


Me & You

by Cosmic_Flame



Category: South Park
Genre: Anxiety, Bad Parenting, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hormones, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation, Mental Health Issues, Middle School, One-Shots, Post-Season 19 Episode 6, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:33:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10086647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmic_Flame/pseuds/Cosmic_Flame
Summary: They were just doing this for the town, to make sure they didn't get depressed about them breaking up. But maybe this fake relationship could lead to a more meaningful friendship that neither of one of them thought they needed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction ever. I read a lot (you can see all my bookmarks on my profile), but my writing skills are on the lower scale of creativity and especially in grammar. So be gentle.  
> Also, I don't know when to end this. It's just a series of one-shots, so it's more of a way for me to contribute to the fandom.  
> Also, I don't watch South Park regularly, and if I get any details wrong or if you want me to write about something that happens in the show post-Season 19 episode 6 please do. However when it comes to one-shots and requests, my story is going to be in chronological order, so it will advance time wise and not just be jumping to them being sixteen and back to being ten.  
> That's pretty much it. I'll try to update regularly, but I want to first write a good chunk before I start posting them on here.  
> Enjoy.

Tweek and Craig were holding hands and the townsfolk whispered about them. Mutterings about how the town’s favorite couple got back together again, overcoming the villainous Michael, resonated in the street and especially in school, where the Asian girls squealed and rapidly began to draw new fanart of them.  


It wasn’t until Tweek and Craig were at Craig’s house playing video games that Tweek decided to ask the question that has been on his mind all along.  


“So what changed your mind?”  


“Well, I thought about what you said Tweek, about us pretending to be boyfriends again and was thinking as long as we are pretending to be a couple we don’t really have to act like super gay, so I can still be me.”  


“Well yeah,” Tweek replied casually, “I didn’t want to make you do anything you were uncomfortable with you know.”  


Craig was still focused on the game, but Tweek had something else he wanted to say, but he pulled and bunched up the ends of his shirt, trying to gather up the nerve to say it.  


“Well, you know man, if we are going to pretend to be a couple, to keep the people happy and all that. We kinda need to pretend to be a couple when we’re outside. Do stuff.”  


“What type of stuff?”, Craig questioned, his focus-diverting.  


“Well, you know hold hands, sit together, ummm, hanging out I guess?”  


“We’re hanging out aren’t we, so we should be fine.”  


“So you're not against us holding hands and all that other stuff.”  


“Nah man, as long as you don’t go trying to kiss me. We’re pretending to be gay, not actually become gay.”  


Tweek smiled, happy that Craig was on board with this plan. Tweek actually liked hanging out with Craig. Truthfully this is the first time they hang out, even though Tweek hangs out with Token and Clyde, but they would kinda avoid him, and truthfully Tweek couldn’t really blame him. He would get twitchy and his anxiety has him so fucked up that just hanging out brought out the fears he didn’t even know about. Tweek couldn’t help to notice how calm he was around Craig, and yeah they actually beat the living shit out of each other, but what friends don’t throw an occasional punch. Shit, Cartman was the biggest dick in this whole town and he has Kyle, Stan, and Kenny to hang out with on the daily. Maybe Tweek just wanted to have someone who wouldn’t mind hanging out with.  


~~~  


Craig liked Tweek. And no, not in a gay way.  


He was actually pretty chill to hang out with. Yeah, he would get twitchy and stutter so much that whatever he was trying to say got lost in translation, but recently he’s been pretty calm around him. Well, as calm as Tweek can possibly be.  


But while he was playing the video game, Tweek would make the occasional comment and actually help him by suggesting what to do. He wasn’t like Clyde who would ask to play and get upset when Craig would deny his request. He just let him play and didn’t really expect him to talk. And really, it wasn’t even awkward, it was refreshing. It felt, good.  


Maybe this fake relationship won’t be so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story behind why Tweek suddenly keeps his room tidy.

It’s been a week since their “ultimate reunion that proves love does prevail”. Or at least, that was the latest tag for most fanfiction and fanart concerning Tweek and Craig. Really they mostly ignored it, but Clyde would always mention all of the work the Asian girls were doing and would ask them if they actually had sex already, which first of all no, and second of all, their only ten years old.

  
But during that week they hanged out a lot (this consisted mostly of Craig letting Tweek tag along with him and his friends at school and then hanging out after school at Craig’s house to play video games). But today they decided to head over to Tweek’s house after Tweek parents insisted that he brings over his loveable boyfriend.

  
So here Craig was, in Tweek’s room which contained legos scattered around the room and stacks of white cups on his desk.

  
Tweek was on his knees putting away all of his toys and clothing, unaware that Craig was there.

  
Logically Craig did what most people would do in that situation, which was to sneak up on Tweek for fun. Nothing malicious at all. However, lady luck was not smiling down on him today. So just when Craig was about to reach Tweek, he stepped on a lego.

  
Now if you were to ask anybody in South Park if they heard a high pitch scream that resonated inside the depths of every human being, you get a yes from every single one of them. If you were to ask Tweek, especially with Craig within his vicinity, you get a frantic head shake and him telling you that he has no idea what you were talking about.

  
But Tweek knew exactly where that scream came from since the source of that scream was right behind him when it was released.  


After Tweek got over his initial fright about a murder trying to sneak up on him from behind, he willed himself to turn around and saw who was the origin of that sound

  
Right behind Tweek was Craig who was laying down in a fetal position cradling his foot that had a lego embedded in the sole of his foot. Tweek quickly realized what happened, and blamed himself for not picking up that lego piece. Now Craig was going to lose feeling in his foot, it might even get amputated, and he would go walking around with a stub, and he would try to kill Tweek because Tweek did this to him, and Tweek would have to leave because he didn’t want to fight Craig, he liked Craig, and that whole thought process was too much pressure.

  
Thankfully Tweek was brought out of that dreadful thought before he could work himself in a panic by Craig’s voice. Tweek diverted his attention back to Craig and decided to pull out the lego from the sole of his feet.  


Right after he did that, Craig let out a sigh of relief and pulled himself out of his fetal position.

  
“Craig are you, ugh, okay?”, Tweek asked, his stuttering increasing with the situation and the fact that he hasn’t drunk any more coffee during the day.

"Tweek," Craig muttered against the carpet floor.

  
Craig turned his head slightly, so only his cheek was pressed against the carpet. His eyes searched for Tweek, and a smile appeared on Craig's face, making Tweek relax a little bit, his fear of Craig enacting revenge disappearing.

  
“Next time I would kick you ass if I step on a lego,”

And from that day forward Tweek made sure that his room would remain clean, as to not unlock Craig’s rage against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if any of you guys want to help me beta read this please tell me (I don't know how you can access the story, we can talk about this personally later).
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I decided to update stories on Sundays, starting now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's nice to remember that Tweek isn't a pushover.

It's been a couple of weeks since Tweek and Craig decided to continue their fake relationship and the interest has slow down. People didn’t watch them walking to school every day anymore. The influx of fanart and fanfiction died down from the Asian girls. Even Tweek and Craig’s parents were now relaxed about them visiting each other at home (even though Tweek’s parents still asked Craig to leave the door open, which he never did). So yeah, South Park returned to its normal self. Which was both good and bad for Tweek. 

~~~

Tweek and Craig were, like usual, walking to school. Tweek with his coffee thermos and Craig with his chullo hat. They didn’t really talk while they were walking to school. They hanged out so often that all conversation topics were already used and Craig was naturally not a talkative person. Tweek would try to start conversations and Craig would listen and make the occasional sound to show he was listening, but Tweek never forced him to talk, which Craig appreciated. In fact, Tweek sometimes didn’t really want to talk at all, it was nice to be quiet, but at the same time knowing someone was next to him. Plus it wouldn’t be quite for long, especially if Clyde has anything new happen to him and he needed to brag about it. 

Today, however, Tweek was quieter than normal, and Craig noticed. They were talking about this new comic book that Tweek got when he went abnormally quiet and specifically looking at the ground. Craig could tell that Tweek was tense about something, given by how tightly he was holding on to Craig’s hand. 

Craig looked around the street trying to pinpoint what could Tweek so anxious. Then he saw them. A group of boys who were side glancing them and muttering underneath their breath. Craig just rolled his eyes and was just going to ignore them if it were not for Tweek becoming increasingly rigid by the second. 

“Hey, assholes!” Craig shouted directed it toward the group of boys. At first, they glanced around and tried to avoid Craig’s gaze, which he saw and got more aggravated about, “Yeah I am talking to you fuckers!” Craig then flipped them off with his free hand, his other hand anchoring Tweek, trying to make sure he wouldn’t freak out. 

“If you guys got anything to say, say it or do you guys not have the balls to say anything!?”

The groups of boys shook their heads and began to walk toward the school, not daring to turn around and face the wrath of Craig. Craig just shook his head, annoyed by those boys. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tweek smile slightly. 

“What?”, he questioned. 

Tweek just swung their clasped hands and said, “Nothing, man, just thanks.” And continued to smile the rest of the walk to school. 

~~~

Tweek didn’t consider himself to be a confrontational person. Yeah he once threatened to use a bazooka, but that's beside the point. The point is that Tweek didn’t like to do confrontations. Yeah, Kyle taught him how to box when he was going to fight Craig, but he hasn’t really used his skills beyond that point. Fighting was just too much pressure for Tweek. He would need to defend himself, but also be on the offensive, and he had to make sure to defeat his opponent. But he couldn't annihilate him too much because then he would kill him, and then he would go to jail, and his parents wouldn’t bail them out because they wanted to save up money to expand their coffee franchise. And he would be in jail and when he got out he would be a hardened criminal and be covered in tattoos and probably a shaved head and, too much pressure. 

So yeah, Tweek didn’t like confrontations because really all it would cause is his anxiety to increase and work himself in a panic. 

So when Tweek told Cartman to shut the fuck up, he was as surprised as anybody else. 

Tweek and Craig like usual were walking to school, continuing their conversation about the latest show on tv from last night. Ever since Craig confronted the group of boys, he and Tweek have gotten closer with each other, having more conversations and coming up with more things to do after school. Craig did it to make sure that Tweek didn’t get confronted by those jerks again. 

As they were nearing the school, Cartman and his assortment of friends were right beside him. Cartman saw Craig and Tweek talking with each, having a good time, and really what better reason was their for him to just fuck up that tranquility. 

“Hey Craig and spazz, get a room already, we don’t want you guys to be all lovey dovey in public. We don’t want all of South Park to catch your gayness.”

Tweek and Craig ignored Cartman and Kyle and Stan were telling him to shut up already (Kyle made sure to add in fatass somewhere in there). But Cartman just wouldn’t quit. 

“Really Craig, I get the jacket and everything else, trying to act like a tough man, but that hat is pretty stupid. You should just get rid of it, you already have to deal with Tweek ruining your image. That hat isn’t helping you ”

Before Craig could flip Cartman off Tweek left his side and looked right at Cartman’s face, “Shut the fuck up Cartman! At least Craig’s hat actually fits on his head.”

The boys just looked at Tweek in shock, and also looked at Cartman wondering what  what he was going to say. Before Cartman could say anything though Craig bursted out laughing, tightening his grasp on Tweek’s hand. 

“Damn Tweek, didn’t know you had it in you man?”

Tweek relaxed a little bit and diverted his attention away from Cartman, “Yeah man, you don't, ugh, remember when you and I fought. I know how to hold my own.”

“Oh, I remember man. You sure have bigger balls that some people I know.”

Craig side glance toward Cartman, who was becoming redder by the second. Craig just shook his head. He really didn’t care about him. Sometimes Cartman could be a little shit and took things too far, all he needs is to be put in his place once in awhile. 

Craig and Tweek continued walking, ignoring Cartman who was now flustered and trying to tell the hysterical Kyle to stop his laughter. 

Really Tweek didn’t know what came over him that day, but he never regretted standing up for Craig. Even if Craig didn’t need it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did she post a chapter on Wednesday? Didn't she say Sunday? Well yeah but it's a minimum day, plus I have been writing a lot and decided to award, not only myself but also you guys. I am not sure if one person visited this fanfiction 100 times or if its 100 people. Either way, I am super happy. Also, Tweek is kinda hard for me to write because of his mental health, so if you guys have any pointers or hints to help me write the mental instability, that would be much appreciated.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you guys for reading this cringy fanfiction.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this one >.

Craig doesn't get nervous. And no, he wasn’t nervous at the movie premiere for Red Racer, no matter what his mother says. Craig doesn't get nervous. He just gets a little more anxious than normal, which isn’t being nervous, no matter what his mother tells him. It's a synonym damn it, it’s not the same thing. Yes, he was pacing in his room, yes he asked his mom to make snacks for Tweek and him, yes this was the first time he was going to introduce Stripe to one of his friends, and no he didn’t really think this through.

~~~

Craig and Tweek were sitting together at lunch. Token didn’t come to school that day because he probably had some rich person thing to do (Tweek will later tell him that he got a stomach bug and asked him to tell him what the homework was, but Craig was pretty sure that fucker was faking). Clyde was with Bebe trying to use his _charms_ or so he calls them. Really all Craig was seeing was a blushing Clyde trying to compliment someone who was only half paying attention to him. Jimmy had to go to the doctors, so he wasn’t there either, (he believed Jimmy’s reasoning).

So it was only Craig and Tweek at the lunch table.

Tweek was nursing a cup of coffee, “Craig, ugh, can I, uh, ask you something?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“What is on your jacket?”

Craig looked down at his jacket, pulling it to see what Tweek was talking about. On his sweater was a now dry stain, probably from the morning.

“Oh it was probably Stripe, she was pretty excited in the morning when I was trying to put her in the cage. She probably peed herself and some of it landed on me.”

“Whose Stripe?”

Craig cursed himself mentally. He mentioned Stripe. He doesn't like mentioning his pet guinea pig to his friends because they would start making fun of him when he started to get excited over his guinea pig. They just didn’t understand how cool guinea pigs were.

“Oh, she’s just my pet guinea pig, that’s all.”, Craig said, not daring to look at Tweek. He was getting a little nervous about Tweek’s silence so he braved himself to take a peek. What he was expecting was a raised eyebrow or Tweek continuing to eat his lunch. He didn’t expect Tweek’s face to be filled with wonder and joy, his eyes wide open as if he found a treasure chest.

“You have a pet?”, Tweek asked leaning toward Craig slightly, his hands on the edge of the bench and his coffee forgotten in front of him.

“Ummm, it didn’t seem important. Plus it's not something I tell people.”

“Is she soft?”

“Uh,” Craig paused, “Yeah, I think so”

“Cool”, Tweek said softly, “I remember when I used to go to a petting zoo when I was little. Kinda to relax my anxiety and stop myself from fidgeting. It closed down but I remember how soft the ponies and bunnies were.”

“Huh, I didn’t know there was a petting zoo in South Park,” Craig interrupted.

“Yeah! It was supposed to help people who had problems, you know like Jimmy and me. But there was also some people who were autistic I think, I am not sure, I was pretty small, probably five years old.”

Craig imagine a little Tweek, twitchy and scared, petting the bunnies and ponies with a smile on his face, “Do you want to come after school and meet her?”

Tweek eyes widened and then he smiled softly to himself, “Of course.”

~~~

So here Craig was lying on his bed, his chullo hat off so he could dig his hands into his hair and he groaned in the humiliation of what he did. It's not that he thought Tweek was going to laugh at him, he just didn’t want to lose his though person persona by people finding out he loved his pet guinea pig.

Before Craig could continue his pity feast, he heard the doorbell ring and fell off his bed. He didn’t get scared or anything, he was just distracted that's all. Craig rushed out of his bedroom, already hearing his Mom greeting Tweek and telling him to come in.

“So how are you Tweek?”, she asked as she was closing the door behind her.

“I am good, thank you, Mrs. Tucker. How are you, it looks like you got a new shirt.”

“I did, thank you for noticing Tweek, what do you have there?”, Laura Tucker asked, gesturing to a plastic bag that Tweek had on his arm.

“Oh, just some treats for Stripe.”

“Oh, I see.”, Laura Tucker smiled to herself. She understood why her son was so nervous. She has seen many of her son’s friend, from the Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Token, Clyde, Jimmy, and other children that she knew her son hanged out with occasionally. However, none of those kids knew about her son having a pet guinea pig. She knew that her son wanted to be seen at the “top dog” at school, given all the times he got sent home for fighting at school or all the times she got a phone call from the principal, “Did you hear that Craig, Tweek brought a present for Stripe.”

“Yeah Mom, I heard you,” Craig said after his mom ratted out his hiding spot behind the stair railing, “Hey Tweek you want to come in my room and meet Stripe?”

“Yeah, let me just take off my shoes.”

Craig just nodded his hatless head and headed back down the hallway into his room. Laura smiled to herself when she saw her son flip her off, most likely because she brought attention to where he was.

“Thank you, Mrs. Tucker, for having me,” Tweek said and headed up the staircase.

Before he got out of hearing range Laura remembered one important thing to ask, “Make sure the door is open boys,”

“Yes, Mrs. Tucker.”

Laura laughed quietly enjoying the fact that her son was so nervous that he forgot to put his hat back on. It's nice to be a kid.

~~~

“So this is Stripe,” Craig gestured to his guinea pig after he placed her on the bed between him and Tweek, “Do you want to hold her,”

“Oh God, yeah I would like that,” Tweek said, his eyes not leaving Stripe for a moment.

Craig didn’t ask him to hold his hands out, he just placed Stripe carefully on Tweek’s lap, hoping that he wouldn’t freak her out, or worse, she freaks him out. Instead, Tweek tried to remain as calm as possible, not even experiencing the occasional twitch. He slowly placed his hand in front of Stipe’s face and let her sniff his fingers. After that he began to pet her fur, and seeing that she was enjoying that, Tweek began to scratch her. Even daring to scratch her belly, making sure to watch if she got uncomfortable.

The whole time Tweek was focusing on Stripe, there was also someone focusing on him. Craig watched in awe and something else that he couldn’t quite name. He has never seen Tweek so calm, with no anxiety that was lingering in the background, ready to appear at any moment. Craig was enthralled by what he was seeing.

This, he thought, is what Tweek should look like. Happy and calm. There he was, in a nice gray sweater caressing his most beloved pet, Stripe. It was something that brought warmth to Craig’s heart. It made his throat dry, yet his hands sweaty.  He could feel a lump in his throat, an emotion he only ever remembers when his mother would nurse him to health when he was sick and scared, and when his Dad first told him how proud he was, or when he first meet his little sister. It was frightening, yet at the same time bewitching. He watched to capture this moment, but he was to mesmerize to even move, to even blink.

And when Tweek looked up from petting Stripe and saw Craig’s face, his mouth blossomed into a small smile and a tiny chuckle erupted from his chest, as he pointed out Craig’s messy hair.

Craig didn’t even feel offended. He was that enraptured. He was happy.

~~~

Laura walked up the stairs carrying a tray that contained celery and peanut butter and two apple flavored juice boxes, (she never liked the fact that Tweek was always drinking coffee, that wasn’t healthy for a kid.).

Before Laura announced her presence by knocking on the ajar door, she saw a glimpse of the scene before her.

There her son was, sitting on the bed, his legs crossed, sitting right in front of Tweek who had his legs tucked underneath him. However, it was seeing her son with so much emotion on his face that stopped her from knocking. The wonder and joy on her son’s feature reminded her when Craig first saw Red Racer. Or when Thomas and her bought Craig a small red racer car for his third birthday. She still remembers the look of delight, and how he would spend hours and hours on that little toy car.

Over the years Craig started to get more distance. In fact, Thomas and her were also having some problems after Ruby was born. But lately, with the help of marriage counseling and efficient communication, they were able to preserve, if not, improve their relationship. However, she couldn't help but feel that during the time she and her husband were distant, they also ostracized Craig. Craig must have picked up on the tension between them because he became less playful. When they fought, Craig temperament would become sour. That was when Craig started to spend more time in his room that with the family, he was tired of hearing the constant shouting from his parents.

They tried to be more open and welcoming to Craig. They tried to take him out on outings with Ruby. They just tried to be a family again, eating dinner together, going to church, and going to the store.  They thought they were making progress. That was until they found out that Craig has a boyfriend. The whole town was ecstatic, but Thomas and she couldn’t help but feel a little bit aggravated that they found out about their son’s relationship from town gossip. However any animosity they had for Tweek soon disappeared after a couple of weeks of their relationship. It also didn’t hurt for her to see how nice Tweek was, and how he made Craig much calmer. Laura over the weeks tried to tell Thomas to let them be, they were just children, nothing bad could come from them being a couple, only good things. And this day was proof of that.

Laura’s reminiscences of her son’s happier days made her eyes misty. She decided that she didn’t want to break the atmosphere of the room. She was just happy to see her son so happy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mistakes. Mistakes everywhere.

¨Craig I don't really, ugh, think it's a good idea for me to go on the same bike with you,¨ Tweek said anxiously, pulling on his shirt as he was addressing Craig, ¨I mean, uh, can we even fit on the bike together?¨

Craig looked at Tweek, his face deadpanned from Tweek insistent worrying, ¨Tweek don't even worry about that. My bike is bigger than all the other boys ' bikes, we are going to race against the boys.¨

¨Yeah, but if we have to go up, ugh, any hills or we have to stop, my added weight will make it harder to g-go up. What if you lose the race, and then you get mad at me, then it's going to be the Asian fiasco all over again. Oh god! What if we need to fake break-up and fake make-up. Oh god! Too much pressure.”

“Tweek calm down, I don’t care about winning or losing. It’ll be fun, don’t you think,” Craig said, his hand placed on Tweek’s shoulder, trying to ground him in reality. 

“Yeah, yeah it’ll be fun, but Craig?”

“Yeah?”

“I want us to win.”

Craig’s response to that was a smirk. 

~~~

It started with the taunting. Craig, Clyde, and Token were talking about their bicycles and how they should go riding one day since the sidewalks weren’t icy at all. Tweek just listened, since he didn’t have a bike so there wasn’t anything for him to say. The whole conversation then shifted from playfulness to competition. Token said that he had a new bike which supposedly would allow him to go faster and do cool tricks that old bikes couldn’t pull off. This then cause Clyde to promptly say that it didn’t matter how cool the bike was, if the rider wasn’t skilled enough, it would be the same as trying to learn how to ride a tricycle. Craig quickly agreed with Clyde’s observation, that was until Clyde went into more detail.

Clyde then started to brag how  _ he _ would obviously win a race between them. First, Tweek didn’t have a bike, so he would be last place. Then Craig and Token would hash it out for third or second place, while Clyde became the true victor. 

Craig just rolled his eyes and pointed out that based on Clyde previous bike riding incidents, there was no way he would win at all. In fact, Tweek might be able to beat Clyde if he made sure to get out of the way of Clyde’s path. 

This promptly started a debate between the three friends who argued over who would win, with Tweek as the referee, stopping the conversation when things got too heated. They argued in class, during lunch, recess, and after school. 

They started to gather up evidence, testimonies from the other children of South Park of who was a better rider. However one particular day during recess, Craig asked Tweek about his opinion, Tweek was reluctant to say. He didn’t want to offend Clyde and Token (he obviously thought Craig would win), especially since they were so nice to him. Ironically, Clyde and Token came to his rescue. 

“Dude you can’t ask Tweek who rides better,” Clyde whined in protest. 

“Why not?”

“He’s obviously going to say it's you since you guys are dating,” stated Clyde, “in fact we can’t ask a lot of people since they are going to say it's you Craig since the whole town approves of you and Tweek’s relationship.”

Craig just huffed and flipped them out, which prompted a chuckle from Tweek, causing the whole group of boys to relax from their ongoing debates. 

“I don’t really think it matters who wins,” said Token, “I mean, we all know we are best bikers in South Park.”

The boys at once nodded their heads in agreement. 

“You losers really think  _ your  _ the best bikers this shithole has to offer?”

The boys turned to the source of the sound, which was sadly Cartman. 

“What do you care?”questioned Craig. 

“I care because it’s obviously wrong.”

“What proof do you have of that?”

“Well given that both Stan and Kyle are both one of the best athletes this school has to offer, Kenny is almost indestructible, and the best for last, me. There is no way you chumps can win.”

During Cartman’s little speech, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny arrived at the scene, all of them exasperated with Cartman’s bulllshit. Stan just pinched his nose and Kyle just closed his eyes in frustration. 

“Oh yeah! Well if it was a team race, we would leave you guys in the dust,” exclaimed Clyde, “Especially since all of us are friends with each other. Can you really say that about yourself and your so called  _ friends _ ,”

Stan then stepped forward, trying to placate the boys, “Okay, yeah we all may hate Cartman,”

“Hey!”

“But really, we could totally put aside our differences and totally dominate you guys.”

“I’ll like to see you try,” said Craig confidently staring right into Stan’s face. 

“Oh really?”Stan asked, trying to provoke Craig even more. However Craig’s face was still straight as always, “Yeah, or do you not have the balls to follow through?”

“No, believe me when I say we have enough balls to spare. How about the park, this Saturday at noon?”

Before anyone could respond Kenny said something that was muffled by his orange parka. Kyle looked at Kenny a little bit in bewilderment, “You don’t have a bike Kenny?” In response Kenny just shook his head. 

“That's okay,” Tweek said to the boys, mostly toward Kenny giving him a small smile, “I don’t have a, ugh, b-bike either,”

“Then it's even, how about it Craig?”Stan asked. 

“Yeah, see you there.”

~~~

It was a sunny day and all of the boys were at the park (even Kenny who wanted to watch the race even though he couldn’t participate). At first Cartman was throwing a fit about Tweek and Craig riding on the same bike, saying how the fags shouldn’t get any special treatment. However Craig just said in response that they were just trying to make the race as fair as possible by combining his and Tweek’s weight to equal Cartman’s. Kyle started laughing, and soon all of the boys joined in on the fun and were laughing at Cartman who was sputtering protests about Craig’s comment. 

Eventually the boys were able to line their bikes up, making Kenny the one who was going to record the total time of the two teams. Once Kenny signal for them to start, the all started pedaling. 

Craig would deny this if asked, but it was harder to pedal with Tweek’s added weight. However seeing that Cartman was able to pull it off motivated him to just pedal that much harder. Soon Craig didn’t even take notice of Tweek’s weight (that doesn't mean he forgot about Tweek, since the whole race through he was motivating Craig). 

It wasn’t until they all got to the top of the hill that Craig realized that he might have not been prepared for this. The first sign was how Tweek was telling him to hit the brakes, but Craig being the competitive person he was ignored his pleas. In hindsight, he was being stupid. When Craig finally got to the hill and started to go down, the added weight of Tweek made them go so much faster than what they were expecting. Sure, both Tweek and Craig were ecstatic because they passed Stan and Kyle and crossed the finish line first. However it was the inability to stop fast enough to not hit the tree that kinda ruined the moment. 

Both Craig and Tweek collided with the tree and ultimately the ground as soon as they fell of the bike. Once they were able to pick themselves up from the ground, they started laughing, with Tweek mocking him and his insistence that he wasn’t going to slow down. They gathered their bearings and decided to head over to the group of boys to see who won. 

~~~

Even though Craig and his friends had the shortest time, Cartman stated that they actually won since Tweek and Craig crashed against the tree, proving that they weren’t better bikers. At first there was some protest, but Stan and Kyle asked if Craig and Tweek were okay, and any hint of animosity soon disappeared. 

The boys hanged out a little, playing football (which Tweek thought to bring after the bike ride). Sure there was some whining (from both Cartman and Clyde), but they were able to play against each other. Tweek, Kenny, Clyde, and Kyle went up against the other boys, which proved to be quite an interesting game, given how Cartman always called out on Craig not tackling Tweek because of favoritism. Craig just flipped him off, enjoying himself too much to even bother getting annoyed. Eventually all of the boys got tired and hungry and decided to head home (Craig couldn’t help to notice how Tweek gave Kenny a muffin he was saving for later, giving him a smile). 

The only people that remained were Craig and Tweek, who were trying to fix the bike from the injuries it received from its collision. Craig then mentioned how he will ride Tweek home on the bike, which Tweek readily agreed to, no longer being scared of the bike. Once, Craig arrived at home, he ate dinner, his Dad asking him how his race went. 

“It was...fun.”

Craig didn’t see the knowing smile of his parents faces, being too preoccupied trying to answer his sister’s questions of what really happened. 

Later that night, while laying in bed, Craig couldn’t help but dwell on how much fun he had today. But he was so tired that he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no update next Wednesday (this Sunday is a go). I just have a lot of stuff happening. Hope you guys are okay with that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow Days are Fun Days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never seen snow. I am sorry if this is inaccurate.

“Did you guys hear about how tomorrow is the last snow day of the season?” question Clyde as he slides his lunch tray on the table, sitting next to Token. 

“Yeah, I did hear about that. Are you guys going to do anything on that day?” question Token before he took a bite out of the sandwich. 

“Why don’t we, uh, hang out on that, ugh, day?” asked Tweek after a sipped some of his coffee. 

“Yeah,” responded Craig, “It’ll be fun.”

~~~

As Tweek woke up, he saw from his window how the ground was covered with a fresh layer of snow that seemed to shine with the sunlight shining on it. Just watching the snow gave Tweek a chill. Soon Tweek got a text from Craig that everyone was going to head out to the park at around ten. 

Tweek told his parents how he was going to go out on a date with Craig (that was the only way Tweek could be excused from working at the coffee shop). His dad gave him twenty dollars, telling him to buy something nice for Craig. Tweek decided to put that money in his piggy bank where he kept all the other money his Dad been giving him. Before he left the house, Tweek packed some blankets and three thermoses, one filled with coffee and the other two with hot chocolate (he hoped they liked his blend). He wanted to make something for his friends, and what better thing that hot chocolate during a snow day. Tweek was almost leaving the house, with a brown wool coat on, when he remembered his white earmuffs that were handed down to him by his father.  

As Tweek was walking out of his house he saw Craig waiting for him outside, with his usual chullo hat on but also a yellow wool scarf wrapped around his neck for added measure. 

“Nice earmuffs Tweek, you sure you don’t need a hat or anything?”

“No, my hair, ugh, keeps my head pretty warm.”

“Okay whatever, let’s head over.”

Craig extended his gloved hand toward Tweek, who quickly grasped it, his other hand holding on to the strap of his pack. 

~~~

Craig and his friends weren’t the only ones who decided to enjoy the last snowfall of the season. Almost all of the children of South Park were there with their own friends, others with their families. However, they soon found their friends with the addition of Kenny who said that he didn’t want to deal with the drama of Cartman’s whims. Clyde was shivering even though he was wearing a really thick jacket with all of the common accessories for the cold. Apparently, he tried to one-up the girls and was meet with a rainfall of snowballs. Now his head and pants were entirely soaked. Token just shook his head, telling him beforehand to not do anything stupid, which Clyde promptly did. 

While Craig was laughing and mocking Clyde for his stupidity, Tweek decided to hand out some of the hot chocolate in his thermos to the boys. He took out some of the styrofoam cups from his pack and started to fill them up. All of the boys took Tweek’s hot chocolate (only Craig and Kenny thanked him), however, once the Asian girls saw what Tweek did and started to fangirl over that. Clyde and Token promptly thank him when they saw some of the Asian girls doing cutting throats signs to them. 

After their little hot chocolate break (coffee for Tweek) they decided to start their game. They immediately started to make snowman even though Tweek freaked out a little bit near the end. When they tried to encourage Tweek to put the nose on the snowman, he started to get anxious saying how if he did it incorrectly the snowman would come alive and rip out his liver and eat it. While the other boys were getting a little weirded out, Craig just held Tweek’s hand and told him how he would have his back if that were to ever happen. 

In fact, anytime Tweek got a little paranoid Craig would be there to offer a hand and a calm attitude, trying to be soothing for Tweek. 

Eventually, it got to a point where the boys decided to have a little competition, which was normal for young boys. It was decided that it would be Tweek, Kenny, and Bebe (who decided to join them when they decided to have a snowball fight) versus Craig, Clyde, and Token. Blondes v. Brunettes (even though Craig had black hair, but for namesakes, this had to do). 

They had five minutes to get ready. Craig and his team decided to work more on their snowballs, while Tweek’s team divided up the roles, with Kenny and Bebe doing snowballs and Tweek working on the wall. 

After the allotted time was over mayhem broke out. 

It was quite obvious from the start who was in the lead. Due to the fact that Craig’s team only made small little hurdles to cover themselves, they were quickly ambushed with Tweek’s team's snowballs. However, Craig and Token’s aim were so good, that whenever Bebe or Kenny peaked out from their wall they would get hit with a snowball. 

Tweek’s team were about to win if it weren’t for Clyde who sacrificed himself and ran over to the other side to destroy their wall. Once that happened it was every man (or woman) for themselves. Kenny tried to stick with Bebe and Tweek, but when a whole pile of snow from the branch above them fell on their heads, they soon split up and tried to defend themselves. 

Clyde was the first one out since he was too cold and tired to keep going. After that it was Kenny who almost ran into a tree branch and decided to stop playing, not wanting to accidentally kill himself. Token and Bebe both got out at the same time, throwing a snowball at each other faces simultaneously. The only ones left were Craig and Tweek. Craig was looking everywhere for Tweek, but he seemed to have escaped from his sights. 

“Tweek, you have to come out eventually. I won’t throw the snowball that hard if you come out now.”

Craig waited for a response but all he got was a snowball that whizzed past his face. 

“Fuck,” he muttered, frantically looking around him for the source of the snowball. Quickly he saw the top of some earmuffs behind a pile of snow and slowly began to go along the tree line to creep up on Tweek. 

As Craig arrived at the pile of snow he had a snowball at the ready. Craig jumped on the other side of the pile, arm stretched back, ready to throw at any moment. 

“Found you Tweek!” but all saw were Tweek’s earmuffs placed on top of the pile, “What the fu-ugh!”

From behind him, Craig felt something collide with his back, causing him to stagger a little bit forward. As Craig turned around, he saw Tweek standing there with still one more badly shaped snowball in his hand, his cheeks and tips of his ears red from the cold. 

Before Tweek even had a chance to throw his second snowball Craig threw his snowball which collided with Tweek’s face causing him to shriek and sputter from the cold. 

Then all of a sudden Tweek got tackled to the ground with Craig on top of him holding handfuls of snow in his hand. 

“Craig, oh God, Craig, don’t you fucking dare try to put snow down my jacket,”

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it Tweek?”

In response Tweek slapped Craig with a handful of snow, causing Craig to yelp in surprise of the harsh coldness that assaulted his senses. Tweek tried to get out from under him, but Craig realizing what he was trying to do just flopped on top of him, causing Tweek to huff out in surprise. They struggled for a while, trying to hit each other with snow more snow. 

However, they quickly got tired and Craig got up from laying on top of Tweek and laid right next to him. 

“Oh yeah, you should put your earmuffs back on,” Craig said as he sat back up a little bit to put the earmuffs back on Tweek’s head. 

Tweek was smiling, his throat a little raspy from the cold, but his eyes warm and delighted. Before Craig could stop himself he started to chuckle, which in hand caused Tweek to laugh as well. Soon both boys were laying on the snow laughing so much that they were holding their stomachs. 

~~~

When Craig and Tweek got back with the rest of the group Tweek pulled out his thermos and poured out the last of the hot chocolate for everyone. Everyone started to tell stories. The most interesting stories were Bebe’s since they were about girls, which the guys found interesting since they don’t really know anything about what girls do.

As Tweek listened, he cradled his thermos filled with coffee and sat next to Craig who would occasionally look at him and smirk. All Tweek did in response was flip him off, causing Craig to chuckle and lean in closer to him. 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's harder to admit something to yourself than to others.

Craig didn’t like to be nosy in people’s lives. Yeah, he fought a lot at school. Mostly to do with him constantly flipping people off in the hallways, but really they should know by now that his middle finger was the equivalent of a nod or a handshake, but most people were idiots.

But Craig couldn’t help to notice that Tweek’s parents weren’t really good for him. Yeah they took care of him, or so they said, but sometimes Craig questioned if their assistance was actually beneficial for Tweek.

Now, Craig wasn’t one to claim to know what good parents looked like, seeing as his Dad and Mom didn’t really interact with him much lately. But his Dad always patted him on the back every time he brought a new black eye from school, and his mom would make sure that he was always warm when he was leaving to school.

So Craig knew that he had good parents because he knew that they cared for him, even if they didn’t really show it often.

Tweek’s parents were a different story, and the first sign of that was when Craig asked Tweek about his obsession with coffee.

~~~

Craig and Tweek were walking to school, holding each other hands. Tweek wore only his green button up shirt and was holding a thermos in his other hand, taking large gulps of it as they walked from school. Craig couldn’t help but notice the large size of the thermos and wasn’t sure what was inside of it.

“Hey, Tweek, what the fuck is that shit anyway?”

“Oh, well coffee obviously,” Tweek responded and continued to drink from his thermos.

“Well, don’t you think your drinking a lot of coffee lately. I mean before we meet you would use a smaller thermos, but now you're using that one, and man that shit is ginormous.”

“Dude it's just that there’s so much pressure lately, with the town watching us constantly and asking about our relationship, I just don’t want to give anything away with my constant jittering and stuttering.”

“Hey man,” Craig said, stopping Tweek and looking around, to make sure that no one was near to hear their conversation, “You don’t have to worry about that, I’ll have your back. Plus you're a ridiculously good actor,”

“I told you I am not that good,”

“Shut up, you were totally believable. Everyone thought I was a cheating douchebag, and I still don’t know how you were able to bring out the waterworks.”

Tweek smiled to himself, thinking back to when Craig told him he was capable of more that he thought, “Thanks,”

“No problem, now back to the problem at hand. You don’t have to drink coffee to keep our relationship secret. I don’t really think it's good for you.”

Tweek hand tighten around the thermos as if thinking about the severity of losing something that brings so much comfort to him. But truthfully Tweek always wanted to give up coffee. But given the fact that the only people really close to him were his parents and they are the ones that started his caffeine obsession, Tweek been forced to keep his desire at bay. But now with Craig as his fake-boyfriend and friend, he could give up coffee.

“Yeah, you're the right,” Tweek says as he commences to pour the rest of the coffee into the trash can.

~~~

The whole day was, for the lack of a better word, shit.

Tweek couldn’t stay put, his legs constantly keep moving up and down, His arms were shaking so badly that he couldn’t even pick up a pencil, let alone write. And the worst part was that he couldn’t even talk properly. At the beginning of school, it was fine, just the occasional sound and grunt. But when it got to noon Tweek would say random words out of nowhere, scream curse words, and start whimpering at weird intervals.

During lunch, Clyde and Token eyed him oddly, making Tweek even more self-conscious of himself. Every time he would flail smacking his hand against the table, or move his leg up and down so fast that he made the bench shake, he could tell that Clyde and Token were getting nervous and weirded out by him.

In fact, all of the students were getting weirded out by him. Muttering underneath their breath about how weird he was, some even questioning how he was even able to get Craig as a boyfriend.

Tweek felt his ears turn bright red, a shame that he was bringing more attention to him and Craig and that Craig had to deal with all of this. He didn't want people to start judging Craig. Craig was always nice to him, he didn't want him to get ridicule just like him. Craig, Craig was something different. Yeah, he could be a jackass, but really, who isn't. He was loyal to his friends, always checking out for them, no matter how stupid their ideas are, or how self-absorbed they were. No, even if those friends was a ball of anxiety, who used coffee as a means to calm himself down. But Tweek realized that his coffee wasn't helping him with his anxiety, but just keeping it under wraps. The moment he took coffee away, it was like a dam opened up, covering him in a wave of insecurities and anxiety that suffocated him during school.

He was such a bad fake-boyfriend, not being able to control himself. No wonder he never had friends. 

~~~

Craig was going to go down as the worst boyfriend in history. Shit, the worst friend in history, because let's face it, he saw Tweek as a friend now after all the time they hang out during and after school.

So as Craig watched Tweek struggle to write, to eat, shit to even walk straight. He felt like shit for even suggesting that Tweek quit taking coffee.

He knew everyone was criticizing Tweek, shit Cartman was the one who started it, saying how Tweek was going to become a psychopath if he kept twitching and yelling all the time. But Craig didn’t care what any of them thought about Tweek. He made sure to throw an occasional finger up in the air for anyone that thought to even make a comment about Tweek’s condition.

But it didn’t stop the mutterings from reaching Tweek. He could tell just looking at Tweek’s face how much it hurt him not being able to control himself in class. Craig was pretty sure that Tweek was blaming himself for him compulsive behavior when it was all Craig’s fault. He wanted to hold Tweek tighter, shake his shoulders and tell him it was going to be okay, that it wasn't his fault. But Craig isn't so sure that's the right thing to do at this moment. He was only ten years old and he never had a friend whose own mind betrayed him. Sure, Jimmy was a handicap, but that was more with his body, not his mind. Tweek, Tweek was so gentle and at the same time didn't mind giving a piece of his mind. Craig cared about Tweek so much, considered his one of his closest friends, even though the only really hung out together for a couple of months. But Craig did things with Tweek that he has never done in the years he knew Token and Clyde. Tweek just made it easier for him to talk, and at the same time encouraged his silence. It was both fascinating and welcoming. So as Craig continued to see Tweek's internal struggle throughout the week, he couldn't help but chastise himself. 

All Craig could do was tighten his hold on Tweek’s hand to show him that he was here with him.

~~~

When the last bell on Friday rang Tweek let out a breath of air. He was so happy that school ended and he could go home and drink a whole pot of coffee. He was sure that Craig would tell him to start drinking coffee again so that he wouldn’t twitch and scream so much and embarrass him in public.

So when Craig tugged on Tweek’s hand and quietly asked him if he would like to go to the park before they head home, Tweek was terrified.

Thanks to the lack of coffee to calm him down, Tweek began to imagine all the horrible ways that Craig could kill him, sell him, or worse. Oh no, Tweek didn’t want to think about what could be worse. However, Tweek knew Craig would never do that, but he couldn't keep his head from coming up with pictures in his head, petrifying him as they neared the park. 

So when Craig abruptly stopped and called out Tweek’s name, Tweek’s first response was to yell and let go of Craig’s hand to cover his face with it. Tweek expected punching, yelling, something, but all he got was a hand on his hand pulling it away from his face.

“Come on Tweek, I am not going to hurt you.”

Tweek at first didn’t believe Craig, but his voice sounded so sincere that Tweek reluctantly lowered his hands and looked into Craig’s face, shocked by what he sees. Right in front of him, Craig had an expression that he hadn’t seen before. He wasn’t deadpanned like he usually was or smirking before he beat the shit out of somebody, or smiling because Red Racer was on. He looked sad. Tweek had no fucking idea why.

“Craig are you okay?”

Craig’s face became troubled and he let out a long sigh before putting his hand to his face and falling into the grass, “Geez Tweek, you have a shit day and you worry about me. You're really something else.” Craig just laid on the grass and Tweek not sure what to do, decided to lay down next to him.

Craig peeked from his hands and when he saw that Tweek laid down next to him he decided to say what was on his mind, “I am sorry man for making you give up coffee. That was really fucked up of me.”

Tweek turned his head away from looking at the sky and looked at Craig instead, a smile on his face.

“Really? I was going to apologize for making this whole week awkward for you. I am sure you didn’t want to hang out with a spazzing kid at school.”

“Are you kidding?” Craig said, his voice rising a little bit causing Tweek to tense up making Craig feel even guiltier, “Man this was one hundred percent on me, you didn’t do anything bad. I decided to make you do something you weren’t comforta-,”

“Yeah, but Craig I went along with it. I know what a lack of coffee those on me.”

Craig and Tweek laid there together deciding to look up at the night sky and the twinkling stars.

“Well,” Craig started, “Let's just both be sorry and call it even yeah?”

Tweek nodded his head, happy that that was over with. Or so he thought.

“Tweek?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you start drinking coffee?”Craig seeing how Tweek didn’t tense up so much he decided to continue with his questioning, “I mean, you know it fucks you up man. So why didn't you even start? Everyone knows not to drink coffee until their an old fart or have to wake up at like fucking six in the morning.”

Tweek didn’t say anything just kept laying on the grass, occasionally whimpering or grunting. He never told anyone of how he started drinking coffee, it was a story he didn't want anybody to find out, especially adults. However, Tweek finally decided to tell Craig his secret.

“I don’t really remember my first time drinking coffee.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Tweek trailed off, trying to find the courage to tell Craig his story. He was scared what Craig would think of him. But so far Craig’s been nice to him. He knew from his past experiences with Craig that he wouldn't judge him. So he decided to continue.

“I don’t remember the first time drinking coffee because my parents were the one who gave me coffee. Before they became the hit coffee shop they were experimenting on different coffee formulas and which one would beat the old coffee shops that were in South Park.”

“They told me they were going to be biased for their own coffee, so they couldn’t try it on themselves. Plus they couldn’t ask anyone because they were scared someone would find out what they were doing and send a hitman to kill them or something.”

“So the next best thing was me.”

“They told me that they feed me so much coffee not just to test it out for to calm me down. I don't think my parents knew how to handle a child with mental problems, so to calm my nerves they would give me coffee. They always tell me how it was like killing two birds with one stone. However, once they stopped I wasn’t...normal. I was a toddler at that time and they would tell me that I wouldn’t be quiet and wouldn’t stop moving. They said I moved so much that my whole body was covered with bruises from my spazzes. So they decided to give me coffee again, and when people asked them why they were giving me coffee they would say that it was because I had anxiety or some shit. However, people began to judge them, and so they would lie and say it was juice or milk. That's pretty much it.”

Tweek expected Craig to brush off his story, tell him that he was a loser or that he was obviously lying. He didn’t expect what Craig actually said.

“Man, your parents are dicks.”

“What...I guess...but they are still my parents and I love them very much so, and even if they did this to me, they are the only ones that understand why I am like this so they don’t think I am crazy or judge me. And I am sure that they did what they thought was for the best. I mean a lot of other kids get abused by their parents, get you know, touched down there. I just got, you know, addicted. But they didn't know better”

“Yeah, but what they did wasn’t right. It was... it was abuse”

Tweek decided to look at Craig now, trying to understand what he was trying to say by looking into his face, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that parents shouldn't fuck up their kids. They should fix the fucked up things their kids do. They can't just decide to leave their child like that just because they think it's for the best. Your in pain, and if your telling me your parents know this, then they're neglecting to take care of you”

As Craig said that last word he also turned his head and looked right at Tweek, “You deserve better Tweek.”

At that Tweek stared at Craig, both of them holding each other stares. Then suddenly, Tweek started laughing maniacally. At first, Craig thought he finally broke, maybe too much pressure. But then Tweek’s laughter changed and shifted into something softer, something sadder. He started crying. His whole body shook from the force of his sobs, his voice strained from the pitch of his cry, but he wouldn’t stop sobbing.

Craig didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do. He just placed his hand on Tweek’s shoulder, but when he felt Tweek’s body shake from his hand, Craig couldn’t take it anymore. He wrapped his arms around Tweek and brought his head underneath his chin, tightening his arms around him, and rubbing his hands on his back.

Tweek couldn't handle it. He knew subconsciously that what his parents did was wrong, but he never wanted to admit it. Sure his parents made him addicted to coffee, sure they would leave him alone at home for days, even weeks. But they loved him, right? They gave him a room, legos, and clothing. But Tweek knew, he knew that his parents weren't the saints he would describe them to be. Giving him long hours at the coffee shop, making him work at night because they didn't want to hire someone. Leaving him at home the first time when he was five, leaving no food for him as if he were a dog. But Tweek tried to ignore this, he focused on other things, like building, or comic books, or television. He never focused on how his clothes were kinda ragged, or how his parents would intentionally scare him, trying to control him via his anxiety. Tweek was lying to himself. 

But when Craig told him he deserved better, it was as if he opened the flood gate and all the thoughts Tweek hide under his anxiety surfaced. He was right, Tweek deserved better. He would always do his chores, didn't get into fights, he worked hard at the coffee shop, and he always helped his Mother make food. Why couldn't his parents see that, why didn't they ever try to help him, try to fix his anxiety via medicine, and not self-induced addiction. Why wouldn't they help him?

So Tweek continued to cry. He sobbed for the pain that he hide ever since he could remember. He sobbed for all the jokes and bullying he experienced because of his differences. He sobbed over his parents, who didn't show their love for him. But despite all that sadness, he was happy, happy that Craig was here for him. 

Eventually, Tweek’s sobs subsided and he too wrapped his arms around Craig, and Craig continued to hold Tweek as his breathing was getting under control.

Ultimately, Craig decided to break the silence.

“Tweek I think you should still stop, but I don’t want you to do it alone, so I’ll be there for you. If you get twitchy or nervous or the pressure is too much I’ll be right next to you. Shit, I’ll quit smoking so you don’t feel like nobody understands you. I want you to know that you can rely on people. You can lean on me because were friends.”

“You don’t have to Craig,” Tweek muttered, his throat sore from all the crying he did.

“Yeah, but I should really quit smoking. It's fucking expensive and makes my teeth yellow. I’ll be your motivation and you’ll be mine so we can help each other. To make sure we don’t go back to becoming addicts. We’re too young for that. We're too young for many things, but this, this we can stop.”

They laid there together, Craig holding onto Tweek, listening to his chest expand and compress with each breath he took. Eventually, his own breathing matched with Tweek and he was nulling himself to sleep.

“Okay,” Tweek muttered, a watery smile appearing on his face. A smile that Craig was able to feel on his shirt, making him smile as well.

“Okay,” Craig replied, hugging Tweek a little tighter. He might be squishing Tweek, but Craig had to do something to stop himself from crying. 

~~~

From that they forward, they walked to school holding each other's hand. Both wearing coats. Craig his usual one, and Tweek wearing one of Craig’s. Craig wearing his chullo hat and Tweek wearing Craig’s scarf. Both with hot chocolates in the other hand, sipping occasionally to fight against the early morning breeze. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I wasn't going to post a chapter on Wednesday. But I wanted to give you guys something nice, and I am happy over the response of this fanfiction. So thanks again and stay tuned for Sunday.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like this chapter. I am not sure when this is going to end. All I know is that it's only going to get cuter. If you guys have any comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free to ask me.

The first couple of days were rough, especially in the morning. Tweek would be so tempted to just make a cup of coffee to calm down his jitters and the spazzes. But he never did. Craig would always meet him before and after school and would have either warm milk or hot chocolate ready for Tweek to drink. See coffee not only made Tweek addicted, it also kept him warm from the cold. Tweek would be shivering underneath his covers, even with the addition of two more blankets (both from Craig who immediately brought blankets from his house when he heard Tweek talk about how cold he was at night). 

When it came to school a lot of people looked at him as if he was losing his mind, which was understandable since he was becoming calmer and collected around Craig. Token and Clyde were worried about Tweek when he couldn’t even say a coherent sentence in response to one of their questions. He would stutter a lot and start pulling on his hair in desperation. Craig would pull on his hand and hold on to them, not wanting Tweek to continue hurting himself. It was later that day that Craig pulled Clyde and Token aside to tell them what was happening. 

¨Okay guys I am going to tell you something, but don't get weird around Tweek okay, or tell him I told you,¨

Token and Clyde nodded their heads, ¨We just want to know what's wrong with Tweek,¨ pleaded Clyde. 

¨Tweek went cold turkey on coffee, and I am trying to help him cope with it. That´s why he’s so jittery. He can't really get help from his parents so I am going to be the support he needs,¨

Token and Clyde just looked and Craig in amusement, which prompted Craig to ask, ¨What, what’s with those faces?”

“Oh nothing,” said Token with a hint of smirk on his face, “We just think it's super adorable what you're doing for Tweek that’s all,”

Craig just flipped them off nonchalantly, not wanting to seem like he was embarrassed or anything like that. 

“So how did you find out about Tweek addiction. I mean find out about how bad it was,” questioned Clyde. 

Craig immediately thought about how he was holding onto Tweek who was sobbing furiously into his shirt, clinging on to it for dear life, like it was the only thing grounding him. Craig then remembered how he also held onto Tweek, stroking his back and head, trying to give him some semblance of tranquility from the storm that was raging inside him when he accepted what his parents have been doing to him. 

“None of your business,”

“Come on dude,” whined Clyde. 

“Nope,” replied Craig, looking down at his hand as if he could feel the lingering warmth of Tweek’s body, “It's my secret.”

~~~

When Tweek got back home he was so anxious that his legs couldn’t hold him up anymore. Tweek knew that his parents were going to confront him about his jitters and he didn’t want them to get mad at him. They wouldn’t really get mad, in fact, Tweek can’t even remember the last time they ever really asked him how he was or punished him for his misbehavior. But Tweek knew that their solution to his anxiety would be more coffee, which was the heart of the problem. They wouldn’t understand why he was doing this. 

So really all of Tweek’s fears came true when he promptly fell the moment he walked inside his house, his parents sitting in the kitchen.

His parents looked away from the kitchen table, that was littered with all sorts of papers that concerned their coffee shop. 

“Tweek? Are you okay sweetie,” asked his mother. 

Tweek just gave them a thumbs up, not trusting his voice to not betray him. His parents accepted his response and diverted their attention back to the kitchen table. 

Tweek let out a sigh of relief and commenced to walk toward the stairs until his father called him.

“Tweek, can you come here for a second please,”

Tweek reluctantly turned around and headed toward his parents. 

“Tweek, me and your mother are going to be out of South Park for a week. We’re going to an entrepreneur session at Colorado Springs. We can’t really take you with us, so you're going to have to stay here,”

Tweek didn’t feel anything about such a revelation. He's used to his parents leaving him alone ever since he turned five years old. In fact, he was ecstatic about such news, since his parents wouldn’t see him in his coffee depraved state. 

“Tweek, honey, there’s food for you in the fridge for you to make.”

Tweek’s father leaned in closer, placing a hand on Tweek’s shoulder, “And remember sport to keep the doors and windows close because there are murders out there…”

“And rapists,” his mother added.

“You wouldn’t want to get raped right? So you have to stay at home. We don’t want you to be leaving the house,”

“Even if it's Craig dear,”

“We understand that you have to spend time with your boyfriend,” said his father sympathetically, “, but you don’t want anyone to know you are home alone right? Would you do that for us?”

Tweek nodded his head in agreement, already feeling his anxiety increasing. There was a lump forming in his throat that made it hard to breathe through his mouth, causing him to breathe through his nose. 

His father looks at his face as if taking into account his expanding chest. Tweek noticed how his mother’s mouth moved around as if trying to figure out what to say. But she just swallowed and shook her head, her attention back on the papers. His father already forgot about Tweek, just looking at the bills from the coffee shop. 

Tweek moved away from the kitchen, his movement sluggish and stiff. He went up the stairs, his hand wrapped tightly around the rail. Once he was inside his room, he let out a rush of air from his chest, which came out more as a wheeze, due to the tightness of his lungs.

Tweek tried to walk toward his bed, but his legs failed him and he fell face first. His face smashed against the carpet, and as Tweek used his arms to push himself up from the floor, he started wheezing. 

Everything his parents told him, about murders and rapists. He knew it was a possibility, there was always a chance of getting hurt, but he knew that the likelihood of that wasn’t that high. But his anxiety was on overdrive, causing his imagination to draw up scenarios that he didn’t even want to see. 

Tweek rolled on his back and pushed the palms of his hands against his eyes until he began to see stars. He tried to control his breathing, taking long even breaths just like Craig instructed him to do. 

Soon his chest began to expand more and more with every breath he took and his hands didn’t twitch as much. Once Tweek opened his eyes he was grateful that his room was much cleaner now. If his room was littered with legos, coffee cups, and clothing he would feel like he was cluttered in his own room. 

Tweek got up from the floor and walked toward his bed. He was going to pull back the covers until he saw the folded blankets that Craig gave him at the foot of his bed. He reached over for the blankets and wrapped himself, trying to recreate the sense of security he felt with Craig that one day. 

He was warm and toasty thanks to the blankets, but he couldn’t recreate Craig’s hands wrapping around him and soothing him. He just wanted it to be morning already so that he could meet Craig again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dream that there will be fanart for this fanfiction and it will have one thousand hits. One day.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer begins and their friendship only grows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here a little bit early.

It was the last day of school and all of the kids at South Park were ecstatic. Everyone was talking about what they were going to do over the summer, with some students bragging about going to California and seeing the beach. Every time someone came over to Craig to brag about their vacations plans he would just flip them off. 

However, the same excitement didn’t seem to apply to Tweek, who just stood next to Craig and didn’t really talk about his plans. 

But Craig knew that this behavior wasn’t anything new, in fact, Tweek had this timid demeanor for five days lately. It started when Tweek told Craig that he couldn’t go to his house after school, and when Craig questioned him why, Tweek would advert the question and talk about a different topic. 

So Craig dropped it and decided not to give Tweek any more pressure. His behavior was still more twitchy than normal, but it didn’t seem like he was going to have a seizure at any moment if he didn’t get any coffee. 

“Hey Tweek, what are you going to do over the summer?” asked Clyde over lunch. Craig wanted to cuss him out because he wanted to ask Tweek in private. 

“Oh, ugh, I don’t , ugh, really know. Since my parents have the, uh, coff-coffee shop, we really don’t go out, ugh, often.”

“Really?” questioned Token, “You must have left South Park before.”

“Uh, I think I have when I was a, ugh, baby, but I don’t ever remember, uh, leaving South Park,”

“Why don’t you come with us to see my Grandmother?” asked Craig without even contemplating. 

“What?” said Tweek as he tighten his grip on Craig hand. 

“What?”

~~~

Laura Tucker was used to her son having a compulsive behavior. Thomas and her occasionally flipped people off, but Craig didn’t seem to think about his actions when it came to flipping people off. It seemed as if he just did it when he felt people were being annoying. 

So really she wasn’t that surprised when Craig came home and announced to her that he invited Tweek to go with them on Saturday to visit her mother-in-law. She just told him that he still needed to ask his father and that Tweek still needed to ask his parents. 

Craig just nodded his head and walked up the stairs toward his room. 

Hopefully Thomas wouldn’t be so adamant against this idea like he was with Craig having a boyfriend. 

~~~

Tweek packed some of his belongings into his knapsack, along with some of Craig’s blankets, and some cash just in case. He called his parents about what Craig said, but when they told him they were busy so he had to make it quick, he decided not to tell them. He’s sure he’ll get scolded when his parents get back (that is if his parents find out about what he did). So when Craig’s mom called his house and asked if it was okay for Tweek to come with them to Colorado Springs, Tweek made sure to play a recorded video of his mother. 

So here he was at Craig’s house, sitting on the sofa with Craig as his parents ran around the house yelling at each other. 

“Are they, ugh, okay?”

“Yeah, it's just that they woke up late and none of the suitcases were packed yesterday, plus my little sister is being fussy about what she wants to wear,” replied Craig nonchalantly as he laid back on the sofa, his own suitcase already packed. 

“Okay,”

Ten minutes later, Craig’s mom came running in, dragging Ruby by the hand, whose ginger hair looked like it was a bird’s nest.

“Craig can you brush your sister’s hair for me please,” Craig’s mom said as she promptly placed Ruby on his lap and brush and hair ties by his side. 

Craig just flipped her off while putting his controller away (even though he wasn't playing anything). Tweek watched Craig brush Ruby’s hair, pulling on it when the brush got stuck in the areas where there was a lot of knots. Ruby would flip him off, which caused Craig to reply in the same manner. Craig then put his sister’s hair in two pigtails, but the execution of the hairstyle was so bad that Tweek had to intervene. 

“Dude! You, ugh, can’t do hairstyles, uh, at all?”

“What,” replied Craig defensively, “She’s only five it’s going to get messy and all sticky later on.”

“Yeah if her, ugh, hair is half in her face already. Here, hand her ov-over here.”

Craig look at Tweek with puzzlement as he placed his sister in Tweek’s lap. Tweek began to undo the hair ties that were nowhere near Ruby’s scalp, and grabbed the brush which Craig handed over to him. Tweek began to brush Ruby’s hair, actually getting the knots out, and brushing in one direction, unlike Craig who seemed to brush upward, sideway, and down. 

After that Tweek began to separate Ruby’s hair into different strands and began to weave them together until there was a braid wrapped around all of Ruby’s head, forming a crown. Tweek finished it off with using one hair tie to tie the two braid together, and the other one to make a little bun. 

“There, now she doesn't look like she, ugh, got into a fistfight,”

Craig just looked at Tweek with a bemused expression, “Yeah, way to go with reaffirming gay stereotypes.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what they say,” said Craig as he shrugged his shoulders and leaned back into the couch, “All male hairdresser are gay.”

“Oh God! Come on, that is not true! What do you think I do with my hair when I do chores or work?”

“You mean you don’t have your hair in a raggedy mess?”

“Of course not man,” exclaimed Tweek as he lifted Ruby up so she could be standing on his knees, “I can’t have my hair loose, it can get in the coffee or in people’s food. Imagine, my parent’s could get a lawsuit, and then they’ll pressure me into cutting my hair,” Tweek then reached for his head, but remembered about Ruby so he settled it instead to grab her waist, “I like my hair man, I can’t have my parents shaving it off.”

“Okay, okay I believe you.”

Just then Craig’s mother walked back into the room carrying a booster seat, with Craig’s father trailing behind her with also an assortment of luggage. 

“Okay guys let get into the van,” announced Craig’s father. 

“Come here little gem,” said Craig’s mother and she reached down to pick up Ruby who was bouncing on Tweek’s legs, “Oh look at your hair! I know your big brother didn’t do that did he? Your brother can’t brush anyone’s hair, even to save a life.”

Craig just flipped of his mother and proceeded to follow his father outside, carrying his luggage behind him. 

“Did you do her hair Tweek?”

“Oh,” Tweek sputtered, “Ye-yeah, I hope you like it.”

“It's quite lovely dear,”

Outside they heard the van’s honk and Craig’s father telling them to hurry up or they’ll hit traffic. 

“Well, let's go in the van and try to get comfortable now.”

~~~

Getting  _ comfortable _ was a tough order to accomplish given the fact that the Tucker family got stuck right in the middle of morning traffic. It wasn’t the traffic that made the drive excruciating but it was Rubby acting like a fussy baby. Thankfully Tweek knew what to do with the Ruby and began to play games with her such as patty cake, I Spy, and any other game Ruby requested. Craig eventually joined along to, laughing at the weird sounds his sister would make. The most notorious one sounding like a mix between a fart and a kettle when she tried to say fish. 

Tweek made the car ride much more relaxing for everyone, but Thomas wasn’t going to vocalize it of course. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the kid, Tweek was a good boy, didn’t get into any trouble that he knew off. His parents were okay people, even if their coffee was a little bit overpriced (it was a damn good cup of joe). He just didn’t know what he felt about Craig having a boyfriend at such a young age. 

But he knew it was all innocent. They only ever held hands and beyond that it was playful roughhousing such as elbowing each other in the sides, rubbing their knuckles on their heads, and punching each other on the shoulders. 

Thomas could tell that Tweek was a good influence on Craig as well. He’s pretty sure that Tweek was the main reason Craig stopped smoking. 

Thomas knew that there was money missing from his wallet. A couple dollars a week, nothing more that five dollars. At first he thought it was Laura who needed some money to maybe buy groceries or to pay the toll booth. He later found out after asking Laura, that she too was missing money, and thought it was Thomas who was taking it. Thomas later concluded it was Craig, but Craig was evasive back then and didn’t like to eat often at the dinner table (and when he did it always became an argument). It wasn’t until a certain day in early May that everything changed. 

~~~

Thomas was in the kitchen washing the dishes as Laura gave Ruby a bath. Craig walked in and asked to talk to him, which surprised Thomas. 

“Dad,” Craig croaked, his voice a little high pitched, “I need to tell you something.”

“Okay, hold up,” Thomas wiped his hand on a towel and pulled up a chair for himself and Craig, and as he sat down he asked, “What’s on your mind?”

“Dad, I need to apologize,” Craig said, the hands on his side tightening, “I haven’t been truthful and I did something bad against you and Mom.”

Thomas’s body got tense, holding back his urge to yell at his son. He was trying to fix his anger issues, something that Laura always complained about, and something their marriage counselor encouraged him to improve on. 

“What is it?”

Craig stood there and it felt like forever. His body was rigid and his face downcast. Finally, he looked up and his blue eyes looked right into his Father’s, whose eyes seemed to reflect Craig’s own eye color. 

“I stole money from you and mom and I been using them to buy cigarettes.”

It was quite in the kitchen, due to Craig’s nervousness and Thomas trying to think of a way to talk to his son and chastise him for such behavior. 

“Why did you do that?”, Thomas croaked, his voice lower that it usually was. 

“I,” Craig began, clearing his voice a little bit before continuing, “I just thought it’ll be cool and so I started smoking, but I didn’t have enough allowance so I been talking money from your wallet and Mom’s purse, I am sorry Dad, I really am.”

Thomas leaned back in his chair and looked at his son, trying to understand the implication of what Craig just said. 

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“I am going to quit, it's not right not only to you guys but also to me since I am just ten years old, and it's not cool, it's stupid for me to be doing stuff like this,”

The few words Craig said went into a mutter, barely distinguishable if it weren’t for the silence of the room. Thomas let out a sigh and stood up from his chair, placing a hand on Craig’s shoulder, which automatically tensed. 

“Craig, thank you for telling me.”

Craig lifted his eyes from the floor and looked up at his father, who was twice his size. 

“What you did was wrong and I am disappointed in you that you did such things,” Craig’s body stiffened as if waiting for the punishment to come in the form of yelling, “But I am also proud of you for telling me this, I know it must have been hard, it takes real guts to admit to one’s mistakes.”

Craig’s whole body seemed to automatically relaxed, and even though his face still held signs of guilt and embarrassment, it also held admiration for his father. 

“You do realize that you still need to be punished. I am thinking no birthday party to make up for the money you stole, and no Red Racer, no movies, video games, or t.v., for two weeks. And also no allowance for a year. Am I understood?”

Craig just nodded his head in agreement, grateful that his Dad didn’t hate him. 

Before Craig was going to leave to go upstairs his Dad added one more punishment, “Oh yeah, you also have to tell your mother.”

~~~

Soon the Tucker family and Tweek arrived at Thomas’s Mother’s house, which was a nice one story with a spacious backyard and cherry trees on the sides, acting as a living fence from the neighbors. 

“Okay Craig be nice to your grandmother and Tweek don’t worry about her, she’ll love you okay?” reassured Laura, as she was seeing Tweek twitched anxiously over the prospect of meeting someone who didn’t know about his and Craig’s relationship. 

Thomas ranged on the doorbell, and as if someone was waiting on the other side, someone immediately opened the door. The person who greeted them was an old woman with gray hair that still had some black strands in it. Her eyes were blue just like Craig’s, but that's where the similarities died off.

As Grandma Tucker greeted her son and her daughter-in-law, she took notice of her grandson holding hands with a boy with blonde hair and vibrant green eyes. 

“Well, well, what do we have here? What’s your name?” questioned Grandma Tucker. 

“This is Tweek Tweak, he’s my boyfriend,” replied Craig bluntly, making Thomas pinch his nose in response of his son’s lack of subtlety. 

“Boyfriend!” exclaimed Grandma Tucker, looking at his grandson and Tweek as if they grew two heads. 

Tweek became to squirm underneath her gaze, growing self-conscious of what was happening.  Tweek wasn’t sure about the situation. Maybe Craig shouldn’t have said anything. 

“Oh that's so adorable! You're quite young aren’t you dearies, but I remember old Thomas having a crush on Susan when he was in third grade,” exclaimed Grandma Tucker placing her hand on Thomas’s arm, “Why didn’t you tell me Thomas that my only grandson has a boyfriend, I could have prepared something for him.”

“Uh, well mom you see.”

“Now don’t mumble, I bet you had a backward attitude about this just like your father did. Craig honey, did your father tell you that being gay was a choice,”

“Yeah,”

Grandma Tucker looked at Thomas with a disappointed scowl, “I am ashamed of you Thomas, don’t you remember how your sixth grade teacher Mr. Johnson was also gay,”

“Mom I am pretty sure Mr.Johnson wasn’t gay, he just never married,”

“And there’s a reason for that, he never found a fella who wanted to be in a domestic partnership with him, all the people around these parts, judging people based on who they like. Luckily I meet someone who liked girls, and yet me and her were the best of friends,”

Grandma Tucker looks longingly, as if remembering the memory of her friend, “Bless her heart, she was so kind, and so helpful with my wedding. You should be more supportive of your son Thomas, you always used to complain about your Father and how he never gave you any encouragement,”

“Mother…”

“Well let's all get inside now, I have a good roast that's almost done, Laura sweetie you can help me take it out of the oven can’t you?”

“Of course Mrs. Tucker,”

And as Laura handed Ruby over to Thomas, and started heading inside, Grandma Tucker grabbed Laura’s arm and said, “Did you know about Craig and his little boyfriend?”

“Of course Mrs. Tucker. They are quite adorable. Tweek is such a nice young lad, I am sure you would love him,”

Soon Laura and Grandma Tucker’s voices began to fade, and everyone else outside began to bring their things inside the house, Craig smirking at Tweek which Tweek responded by rolling his eyes. After the boys got all their stuff into the living room, Thomas told them to get comfortable in the living room, but Ruby was bored and wanted to play more with Tweek. 

“Tweek?” she questioned, “Can you braid my hair again, it's all messy now.”

“Yeah of course,”

As Tweek was positioning behind Ruby, she couldn’t help but see the little scowl on Craig’s face and the middle finger he showed her, she just flipped him off as well, sticking out her tongue at him. 

“Hey, Tweek I think you should ask Craig to practice on your hair, so when you're not around he can do my hair. Don’t you think that's a wonderful idea?”

Tweek looked between Ruby and Craig, picking up on the sibling rivalry that was imminent between them. He chuckled to himself, amused to see Craig in such an annoying mode. 

“Yeah Craig. You shoul-should do it, I won’t mind you playing with my hair,” said Tweek, amusement evident in his voice as he was trying to hold back his laughter. He bumped his shoulders against Craig, “You're, ugh, my boyfriend after all, you shouldn’t be  _ embarrassed  _ by these things.”

Craig caught on to what Tweek was doing and just glared at him from underneath his chullo hat and Tweek raised his eyebrow in response, as if asking Craig what he was going to do about it. 

“Fine,” Craig said in his usual monotone voice, but Tweek could tell from the undertone that Craig was going to get his payback soon. 

Ruby quickly positioned herself in front of Tweek, already giving Tweek the tiny hair bands she used to have in her hair. Tweek quickly wrapped them around his wrist and set to work parting her hair to do a french braid. He glanced backward, eyeballing Craig to hurry up. 

Craig grunted in annoyance and bend down to dig out combs and brushes from the luggage. He handed the comb to Tweek and kept the comb for himself so he could brush Tweek’s hair. As they set to work, Craig couldn’t help but actually like how Tweek’s hair felt. It wasn’t like his sister’s hair that was constantly static or slimy. Tweek’s was soft and fluffy, kinda like Stripe. But he’ll never admit that to anyone. 

After a while of brushing Tweek’s hair, Craig started to watch Tweek do his sister’s hair. He mimicked the the same thing Tweek was doing with his fingertips, of course Craig had to modify since Tweek’s hair wasn’t as long as his sister’s hair. It looked longer, but once it was brushed down a little bit, Tweek’s hair only reached around his chin area. 

It wasn’t until Craig ran out of hair that he realised that he completed a pretty good braid on Tweek. His hair wasn’t so disorganized around his head. Instead, they were now held back with other strands of hairs that meet together into a simple braid in the middle of his head. Tweek’s hair wasn’t long enough, that when it was braided, it would have some tail left over. Instead, Craig was holding onto it awkwardly not sure what to do. 

“Uhh, Tweek I am done.”

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t be able t-to tie it with any-anything. There should be some hair, ugh, clips around there somewhere. You could clip my hair with that.”

Craig teached for the bag of hair clips that were still in the suitcase. He got a simple black one and used it to hold down Tweek’s braid which now looked more like a bun. Craig soon realised how thick Tweek’s hair was, which lead him to using at least three other hair clips just to hold the braid in place. 

“There I am done,”

“Oh really, so am I,” Tweek finished tying up Ruby’s braid and then reached backward to pat his head, “It's okay, be-better that the one you did for Ruby.” 

Craig just kept a deadpanned face, not giving away how he was slowly getting annoyed that Tweek and his sister kept picking on his braiding skills, which he didn’t even have at all. 

“We should see if the food is ready,” said Craig, putting everything back in the luggage and promptly getting up, not daring to look back at Tweek and his sister who were sending smug faces to each other. 

Soon all three of them found themselves in the kitchen watching the food get pulled out of the oven. Laura Tucker had them set the table, which they promptly did when it came with the presence of food. Thomas Tucker shortly ventured into the kitchen asking if the food was ready. 

Soon the whole Tucker family and Tweek were eating dinner together. Grandma Tucker was asking Craig and Tweek about how they meet and how school was. Then she continued to compliment Ruby’s braid, who quickly pointed out that it was Tweek’s doing. Grandma Tucker became ecstatic, saying how young men should be more interested in hair, especially how boys back in her time always slicked back their hair and made sure to dress properly with buttoned up shirts and loose pants with a belt to actually keep your pants up. 

Craig and Tweek couldn’t help and chuckle at the comments Grandma Tucker were making about Thomas odd dressing habits when he was a teenager. Thomas quickly tried to change the topic, but his wife Laura was much to amused to let the conservation die.

Soon all three children found themselves washing the dishes with the promise of apple pie (which they weren’t disappointed about for a bit). And as the afternoon soon came to an end, Craig and Tweek asked the adults if they could have a sleepover in the living room. 

“That's not fair, I want to sleep over too!” exclaimed Ruby. Craig just flipped her off, which caused Ruby to flip him in response to. 

“Ruby,” Tweek said, pulling on his night shirt, stopping his construction of a blanket pillow fort, “Tomorrow, ugh, me and Craig will have a sleepover with you, but I would like to have one with my boyfriend. Tha-that's understandable right?” 

Ruby blushed, her scarlet face almost matching her hair, “Okay,” she mumbled. 

Soon after Craig and Tweek got a kissed goodnight from Craig 's mother and grandmother, Tweek and Craig got underneath their forts, their flashlights illuminating the inside in soft glows. 

“I-I never done anything like this before,”

“Like what?”

Tweek looked down at the ground, playing with the edges of the blankets that were near him, “All of this, eating like a family, playing with siblings, being told goodnight. Having a friend,” Tweek looked up at Craig, his cheeks pink from the warmth inside the fort, a small smile playing on his face, “I haven’t really ever experienced this before, but I like it. I like this friendship and your family. Its nice.”

“I like it too,” said Craig. 

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Craig said, inching his hand forward searching for Tweek. Tweek took note of this and met Craig halfway, wrapping their hands together as they laid on their sides. 

Soon they weren’t able to stay up anymore and passed out. As Grandma Tucker woke up in the morning, she couldn’t help but coo at the sight of her grandson and boyfriend underneath blankets holding each other hands and facing each other. 

~~~

Their visit with Grandma Tucker soon came to an end and the family were getting their luggages packed up to head on the road. Before Craig got into the car his grandmother asked to talk to him in private. 

“Craig, sweetie, may I talk to you?”

Craig got up from the couch and walked over to his Grandmother’s side, “What's up Grandma?”

“I wanted to give you something for your little boyfriend,” Grandma Tucker reached into her big bag and took out a white ball of wool, handing it to Craig, “I remembered when my late husband always loved when I made home made gifts for him. The first thing I ever did was make him a knitted sweater, a horrid thing it was. I decided to make it with red wool despite my husband having red hair. Poor choice on my part. But back to the topic at hand. I want you to be able to make something for Tweek like I did for my husband too.”

As Grandma Tucker placed the ball of wool into Craig’s hand, Craig tried to hold back his embarrassment of doing such a feminine thing. 

“Grandma, I don’t think I will be doing anything like that. That’s pretty girly.”

Grandma Tucker just smiled and patted Craig’s cheek, “Oh sweet boy, I am not making you do it. I am saying think about it. Sometimes it's nice to make things for people you care about,”

“Just take it sweetie, if you don’t like it just give it to your mother.”

“Okay Grandma, thanks.”

Soon the car horn was heard from outside and Craig wished his Grandmother goodbye and he quickly stuffed the ball of wool into his backpack.

On the ride back to South Park, with Tweek’s head resting on his shoulder, Craig couldn’t help but think about how nice a white scarf would look with Tweek’s earmuffs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too much? Hope you guys like this. Comments are welcomed. Any requests can also be quite helpful.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first big step of their relationship.
> 
> LITTLE APRIL FOOL'S GIFT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter. More tomorrow.

After the outing with the Tucker family, Tweek returned to the confines of his house. He was not use to the silence the house had to offer him. He got used to the arguing nature of the Tucker family and how they would jokingly play around with each other, never trying to really hurt each other with their words. He missed having a sisterly bond with Ruby or having a nurturing mother like Craig’s mother. He definitely missed having Craig around. 

Spending fours days at Grandma Tucker’s house was nice. He and Craig would go to the park that was nearby the house and play at the swing set or climb trees. Craig would try to ignore Ruby, but Tweek chastised him, arguing with him that he should be nicer to his sister. 

“Why she’s so annoying, you don’t live with her,”

“Hmm maybe,” Tweek said, deep in thought, “Bu-but I feel you should be nicer to her. You, ugh, never know what might happen?”

Craig then reluctantly let Ruby tag along with them, much to Ruby’s delight. 

So when Tweek got home, he was worried that his parents already arrived and were going to punish him by giving him extra hours at the coffee shop. However, Tweek wasn’t really surprised when his parents weren’t home at all. He later called his parents, asking them when were they going to return home. His parents answered that they were going to another event for business and that it would take another week at least. Tweek just sighed internally, used to this type of behavior from his parents during the summer. Tweek remembered how past years his parents were gone for almost five weeks, going to expos and special events where they meet people who have similar interests to him. 

Tweek remembered how he would be mad at his parents, but once they returned they would shower him with gifts that they brought, making him forget about the animosity he originally had against them. Now, however, he knew better. They wouldn’t get mad, but he was just tired of this. He didn’t know what to this anymore.

So he made himself a sandwich, not really motivated to do anything else. Washed his dishes, took a shower, and went to bed. The cracking sounds of the house lulled him to sleep.  

~~~

In the morning, Tweek made himself some pancakes (with the first batch being badly burnt) and in mid-bite the loud sound of the phone ringing scared him, causing him to drop his fork on the floor. Tweek went to answer the phone.

“Hello," Week said around the pancake in his mouth. 

“Hey Tweek, it's Token.”

“Oh, hello Token, w-what do you need?” Tweek questioned, cleaning up the sticky mess on the tile floored.

“I wanted to invite you to my house. I am having a pool party and I am inviting the whole gang to chill at my house.”

“Oh, oh, I um,” Tweek said anxiously. He wasn’t really comfortable around pools, he didn’t really know how to swim that well. 

“Craig will be there if you're wondering.” Token responded, a clear smirk on his face.

“Oh, I wasn’t, but, I-I’ll be there.”

“Oh okay, great.”

~~~

As Tweek arrived at the Token’s house he was wearing a pair of swim trunks and holding a fluffy green towel. Before Tweek had a chance to ring the doorbell, Token opened the door, wearing purple swim trunks and water googles around his neck. 

“Hey, Tweek. Come in.”

He left the door wide opened, and Tweek timidly walked into Token's house, already taking notice of the grand size of the house. The large winding staircase and the many sleek types of furniture that were scattered in the living room. 

“Don’t be shy, the party is in the backyard, come on.”

Tweek followed Token, glancing around taking note of the expensive paintings and art that adorned the walls. As Tweek arrived at the backyard, he took notice of the how large the swimming pool was. He quickly noticed Craig, Clyde, Kenny, Kyle, and Stan already in the water (he was a little bit happy that Cartman wasn’t there).

“Tweek! You made it!” yelled Clyde, his face emerging from the water, “Get in the water!”

Tweek walked into the pool through the shallow end, taking the steps one at a time. All of a sudden he felt something grabbed his arm and looked down to see Craig’s hands wrapped around his arm. Before he had time to yell, Tweek was pulled into the water, getting fully drenched in water. 

“C-Cra-Craig! Fu-Fuckk y-you m-ma-man!” he stuttered, the difference of the temperatures affecting Tweek. 

Craig just smirked and began squirting water at Tweek’s face.  

“Argh, Craig!”

Tweek then pressed his palm against the water, creating a huge wave to crash against Craig. Sadly, since Tweek was half blind due to Craig’s early assault, he accidently splashed Kyle in mid-sentence. 

“So Ike was showing me his draw. . . Argh!”

After that, it was a chain reaction worthy for the Guinness world records. Kyle was so confused that he accidently crashed into Clyde, causing both of them to go underwater. When they came back up to the surface spluttering, they quickly started splashing Stan and Craig, blaming them for inhaling large amounts of water. 

Craig easily went underwater and evaded most of the attack. However, Stan got hit squared in the eye and stumbled backward. Unlikely for Stan, the spot he now stood in was the exact spot Kenny decided to do a cannonball. Stan was so dazed being hit by Kenny’s butt, that Kyle and Token had to swim over to where he was to make sure that he was alright. Unlikely for them, however, Kenny decided at that moment to swim back up, headbutting Token underneath his chin. Token then stumbled backward and landed right on Craig who decided to get out of the water to talk to Tweek. This collision promptly created a wave that struck Tweek and Clyde, causing them to collide against each other foreheads. They both reached up toward their injured areas. However, the moment they extended their arms, they each took out another person with their elbows. This being Kyle and Stan. 

It was safe to say that after such an event, the boys decided to get out of the pool to heal their wounds. Which promptly lead them all to Token’s gaming room where there was an epic showdown of MarioKart 64. 

~~~

“Token I didn’t know you had this gaming system?” said Stan as he admired the Nintendo 64 gaming system. 

Token took out all the gaming cartridges, scattering them on the coffee table so all the boys could see the options, “Yeah, it's really my Dad’s. When the Nintendo 64 came out, my Dad said that he needed to get it since it was the ‘new hit thing,’ I actually quite like it, it's outdated but still good.”

“So,” Token said, gesturing to the large pile of cartridges, “Have your pick,”

All the boys searched through the games, but it was quickly decided what game it was going to be. It was the fated MarioKart 64.

“Are you guys sure about this,” questioned Kyle, “This game has been known as the destroyer of friendship.”

“Where did you hear that from?” asked Kenny, he wasn’t really savvy when it came to gaming systems since he didn’t really have that much money to even buy games.

“My Dad told me that he and his college roommate got into a big fight over this game since they would always be neck and neck.”

As Kyle was speaking, Craig plugged the cartridge into the gaming system and started up the game and plugging the four controllers into the slots. 

“Well, we just don’t have to be petty then and just have fun,” stated Craig as he started handing out the controllers, “There’s seven of us so it can be a championship, the best from each team get to play against each other,”

“You can make it six,” stated Token who got comfortable on the couch, “I play this game enough times, it wouldn’t be fair, plus I rather just watch.”

Craig just shrugged in response, “Okay.”

The team split was decided on a coin toss, heads in one group, tails in another. The first team was Kyle, Craig, and Stan. The second team consisted of Tweek, Clyde, and Kenny. Once that was decided upon, the real mayhem began. The race between Tweek, Clyde, and Kenny went pretty smoothly. There was no bickering or taunting. When Tweek ultimately won by a large margin, the other group members congratulated him. 

The same couldn’t be said with Kyle, Craig, and Stan. At first, it started nice, they were all good racers, making the game much more exciting. However, half way through the race, Stan and Kyle started double teaming against Craig. 

Craig didn’t really care, he just kept driving, trying to ignore the red shells that were being aimed at him. However, Kyle hit Stan with a red shell, announcing his betrayal of the partnership. This caused the two friends to furiously compete agaisnt each other, throwing insults with every attack they did. However, thanks to their bickering, their attention was diverted away from Craig, who used a mushroom boost to speed ahead of them, taking first place from under their noses

The final race was between Craig and Tweek, which almost broke Clyde’s little fanboy heart. 

“I can’t take this,” mumbled Clyde into his hands, trying to hide his eyes from the race that was on the tv screen, “Tell me when it's over man.”

Token just shook his head and kept watching the race. In retrospect, Token didn’t expect Tweek to do so well since he was always twitching. But it was like a switch was turned on for Tweek, where his hands grew steady and his attention focused. 

However, Craig wasn’t playing fair. He kept trying to distract Tweek, Be it either leaning really close to Tweek and speaking very softly, causing Tweek to twitch. He even got Kenny to help him, much to the disappointment of Stan and Kyle. Kenny would poke Tweek sides and ask him really personal questions about what he and Craig have done as a couple (Craig didn’t mind the questions, but he knew Tweek was cautious because he didn’t want his friends to somehow figure out their secret). Tweek would also become flustered when Kenny asked him if he ever had his first kiss. 

“Ke-Kenny, stop already. I know you're trying to distract me from the game.”

“I will never do that.” said Kenny with mock offense, “I can’t believe you would even accuse of such a thing. Craig, your man is so suspicious,”

Craig just grunted in response, enjoying internally the mortification Tweek was dealing with, but he wasn’t going to vocally show that because he knew Tweek would get offended and he didn’t want Tweek to get mad at him. Just because he was his friend, nothing more. 

Tweek, however, caught on to Craig’s little enjoyment of Kenny’s insistent questioning. Tweek knew that Craig would get competitive when it came to video games, and given the fact that his Dad let him play games only for today, he was going to make sure that he got the most of this day. 

But Craig forgot how competitive Tweek would get over gaming. The last time Tweek and Craig played a co-op game, it was a Donkey Kong game, and both friends were competing to see who would reach the end first. They would purposely not help the other person’s video game character because they wanted to get the most points and be the one to reach the end first. The first time this happened, Tweek avoided getting Craig’s character out from the barrel and proceed to unlock all the secrets of the level, much to Craig’s distaste. They would have almost fought that day, for it not have been for Stripe and her cute demeanor which calmed the rising blood pressure of the boys. 

So given that fact, Craig should have realized that Tweek would also stoop to his level and try to distract Craig. 

As Craig was nearing the finish line, Tweek took his opportunity. He leaned towards Craig’s face and turned his face just enough that he could plant a kiss on Craig’s cheek. It was a really quick peck, Tweek’s puckered lips barely touched Craig’s cheek, but that was enough to make Craig’s freeze up, the controller falling from his hand onto the floor. 

“Awww,” cooed the boys, which prompted Clyde to peek from his hands, asking Token what happened and when Token told him, Clyde was shocked that he missed a milestone in Craig and Tweek relationship. Clyde began to whine, not being able to believe that he missed such a tender moment. 

Meanwhile, Craig’s brain short wired for a second, and that second was crucial because it allowed Tweek to drive past Craig’s character, taking first place. 

After that, Craig picked up the controller and continued to drive his character through the finish line at a much slower pace that earlier. Craig glanced over at Tweek, whose cheeks were dusted with a pink blush and his ears were red. 

The boys sat there for awhile, not knowing what to do after such an unexpected event. 

“Well,” said Token, brushing off snack flakes from his clothing, “I am going to take out stuff to do smores with. If you guys want some then follow me to the kitchen.”

The boys caught on to what Token was trying to do and readily followed him out of the gaming room. 

Left alone, Tweek and Craig sat in the still silence of the room, not brave enough to make the first move, to say the first word. Tweek could tell that Craig was a little bit more tense, staring at his lap, his hair doing a poor job of covering his ears and shadowing his eyes. Tweek’s condition was much more obvious. He was becoming quite twitchy, trying to calm down himself, scared of Craig’s reaction to what he did. 

Before Tweek could muster up the courage to say anything to him, Craig tilted his body do that he was perpendicular to Tweek’s face. He then leaned over and gave a soft peck on Tweek’s cheek, and placing his hand over Tweek’s after he stopped kissing him. Tweek’s grip was tightening, but Craig didn’t mind, quite happy with the reaction he got out of Tweek.

“There, we're even.”

“Wh-what?” mustered out Tweek, his cheeks scarlet red. 

“You kissed me, I think it's only fair I do the same to you.”

Tweek just shook his head in exasperation, “You just can’t accept defeat can you,”

“Who said I lost?”

“You're just a sore loser,” explained Tweek and he started to get up from the floor, “Plus you started cheating first, getting Kenny to help you distract me.”

“Hmm, you don’t have proof.” stated Craig, standing up along with Tweek, who was leading them to the kitchen. 

“Oh my god man! You are unbelievable! You totally cheated first,”

Craig just flipped him off, a smile of amusement on his face. Tweek laughed for the both of them, tightening their clasped hands and trying to distract themselves from thr kiss by thinking about the prospect of smores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so guys I am working on the outline of another fanfiction of Creek, and I am trying to figure out what Tweek could be in this story (which is more fantasy based). I was thinking nymph, but if you guys have any other ideas please comment them. It won't get updated anytime soon since I want to have a rough outline of what it would contain since I want to make this new one more plot based. I am not sure how it'll go. Do you guys think my writing skills are good enough for such a task?
> 
> Also, quick question, should Tweek be in theater or in boxing. I am already putting Craig is photography and film.
> 
> Also, I got a new OTP >o<. It's Link and Sidon. I love Breath of the Wild (it's getting up there with Majora's Mask, which I love cause it's so freaking dark. Plus Breath of the Wild is so beautiful, I wish I could go to my cousin's house more so I could play the game, but sadly he lives far away). But aside from that Link and Sidon, the height difference, the looks, and how nice Sidon is to Link (Link deserves the kindness). Ahhhhh, my fangirl insides tingle, -0-.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is always a downside to things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy. Next update Wednesday.

Tweek wasn’t one to memorize phrases or books. He like the more mathematical side of things, discovering his way to solve something, rather than be told how to interpret a piece of literature. But that doesn't mean that Tweek didn’t know some phrases. Like take for instance, ‘all good things must come to an end,’. That phrase Tweek knew for sure because that was the only way he could describe this moment. 

Tweek was coming home from hanging out with Craig. Things weren’t awkward at all after what happened at Token’s house. If anything, they became even closer as friends. Tweek was playing with Stripe, building her a little runway with tunnels and hills she could climb over. Craig was helping him build it since he had nothing better to do ever since his dad evoked his video game privileges. Tweek and Craig were on their bellies, building Stripe’s ever expanding runway. 

Then all of a sudden Craig’s mom came into Craig’s room, which in it of itself wasn’t anything strange. It was the fact that she entered before knocking that really startled the boys. 

“Tweek,” said Craig’s mom, her voice graver than it usually was. 

“Yes?”

“Did you tell your parents you were coming over to Craig’s house during the afternoons?”

Tweek’s body went rigid, his brain already processing what Craig’s mom said and what his parents must have said to her, “Ummm, no?”

Craig’s mom just sighed loudly, “Well, they want you to go home immediately, I can’t believe you wouldn’t ask them permission to come over. You better get on your way.”

Tweek wanted to point out that he couldn’t really ask his parents if he could leave the house since they weren’t home and would never allow him to leave without them there. But Tweek bites his tongue and just nodded at Craig’s mother, bidding farewell to Craig and Stripe. 

Craig said goodbye, taking notice of how stiff Tweek was and wondering why he didn’t ask his parents. Craig knew for a fact that Tweek’s parents were over the moon about their relationship so they wouldn’t have denied Tweek the right to come visit him. 

Craig decided to head over to Tweek’s house at night and talk to him, hopefully, he’ll get the answers to the questions he has unanswered. 

~~~

“What do you think you were doing?” questioned his father. 

Tweek just stared down at the floor, wanting to seem meek under his father’s scrutinous gaze. His mother was trying to calm his father down, telling him it was okay. Tweek knew how his father was. He was naturally a calm person, as opposed to Tweek himself. However, if one thing was out of place or not going according to plan, his father would get furious. He saw it before when he was little. When Tweek wasn’t talking normally his father grew frustrated. Over closed doors, Tweek could hear his father ask his mother if he was stupid, given the fact that he wasn’t developing like the other boys. Tweek remembered how he would fold the pillow around his ears, trying to block out the sound of his father’s voice, whose tone only grew more and more with disappointment. 

“Tweek honey, please answer your father,” pleaded his mother.

“I just, ugh,  wanted to hang out with my fri-friends,” uttered Tweek. 

“Tweek,” said his father, placing a hand on his shoulder, “You know better than that. Your orders were to stay at home until we came back. We don’t want you to get in trouble with anyone.”

“But I don’t want to stay by myself,” implored Tweek, “I am tired of being a-alone in this house! You guys are always leaving me behind! Why don’t you take me with you! I won’t be a bother, I just don’t want to be alone!”

“No,”

“Richard,”

“No, Barbara he needs to hear this.”

Tweek’s father sat on the kitchen chair before he continued to talk, “Tweek, the reason why we don’t want to bring you around with us is because you are a bother. We love you, but that doesn't change the fact that with you in our lives, your mother and I cannot pursue a life we wanted before you were born. The one thing you could do for us stays home and allow us to have a life outside of you.”

Tweek didn’t even grace his parents with a response but instead ran up the stairs into his room. 

“Richard, why would you say such a thing,” questioned Barbara. 

“Don’t tell me it's not true,”

“Yes, we never planned to have Tweek in our lives, but we did, and we should make him feel that he’s loved and welcomed, not that he’s a nuisance,” whispered Barbara angrily, not wanting Tweek to hear their discussion. 

“The sooner he understands the situation, the more responsible and considerate he would be of what we ask of him.”

Barbara just shook her head, not having the patience to deal with her husband, and left the kitchen and headed into the bathroom to take a shower as ways to cool herself down of her’s husband’s bluntness. 

~~~

It was late at night, but Tweek couldn’t bring himself to fall asleep. His heart ached from the words his father told him. Tweek knew deep inside that his father said that only because Tweek didn’t listen to his orders, but that didn’t make it any less painful. Tweek could still remember looking into his father’s eyes as he was saying how much of a bother Tweek was. And looking back on it, he was right. 

All the food and clothes they would buy him. The therapist sessions that didn’t work out. The toys he would break as a child. And all the coffee they would make for him. All of it was useless, it was like throwing money away in the trash can. 

Tweek pressed himself closer into the bedsheets, wanting to forget the sound of his father’s voice, the look of his eyes as he stared down at Tweek as if he was a speck of dirt that needed to be rid of. 

All of sudden Tweek heard a thump from the window. Opening his eyes, Tweek started at the window, and seeing nothing, continued to wallow in self-pity. Then another thump was heard, this one sounding louder. Tweek got up from his bed slowly and walked over to the window. 

Below was Craig, with a rock in his hand ready to throw at Tweek’s window. However, seeing Tweek there, Craig lowered his hand and nodded his head at Tweek, who waved back at him, confusion as to why Craig was even here in the first place. 

Tweek opened up his window and poked his head outside, “Wha-what are you doing here Craig?”

“I came to see if you were okay?”

“Why?” questioned Tweek, he didn’t see what Craig needed to check up on, nothing bad really happen. 

“Well, my mom made it sound like your parents were pissed at you. Are they?”

Tweek bite his lip, debating whether or not to tell Craig what happened, he decided on the former, “Yeah…”

“Do you need to talk about it?” asked Craig, his face betraying nothing of how worried he was. 

“Yeah… I’ll be down in a bit.”

~~~

Unknown to them, Barbara Tucker was watching the whole exchange from the kitchen window as she finished up washing the dishes and putting the leftovers in the fridge. She would keep Tweek’s secret, it's the least she could do. 

~~~

“Okay, what's wrong?”

Tweek didn’t even have time to close the back door of his house before Craig asked him that question. Tweek preoccupied himself with closing the door and putting on his sweater, trying to come up with something to say. Craig must have sensed his nervousness, though, because he reached out and grabbed Tweek’s hand, leading him away from the door into the backyard, underneath a tree. 

“Better?”

“Yeah, thanks, man.”

Craig just nodded his head in understanding, and both boys just sat underneath the tree, waiting for the other to say something. Tweek, luckily, was the one to speak first. 

“My father was really mad at me for leaving the house to go visit you, he said some things, and I got sensitive over it. But-but I am f-fine, I promise.”

Craig just listened to Tweek give his explanation, not wanting to interrupt him, however, there was still something nagging Craig. 

“Why did your dad get mad about you coming to my house? Your parents are pretty cool about that.”

Tweek got nervous, his jitters returning slowly. But he wanted to tell Craig because if he didn’t tell anyone, it will only continue to eat Tweek up from the inside. 

“Oh god! It's just, my parents they, ugh, left for a couple of weeks, and they told, god, they told me to not leave the house for anything, tha-that included going to your house.”

“Wait,” interrupted Craig, “you were alone at home during these two weeks of Summer?”

“Yeah…” answered Tweek meekly. 

“You shouldn’t be left alone at home. Why don’t they leave you with a family friend, or with us?”

Tweek just hunched into himself, trying to figure out the answer to that question as well, but always coming up short, “I am not sure, but my fa-father, he got mad and he, he. Oh god, he said that I was a nuisance, that I was in the way of their-their lives.”

Tweek buried his face in his hands, angling his body away from Craig, “Maybe they’re right,” mumbled Tweek, “I mean, they was-waste so much money on me? They can’t really be successful in business because of me. I am just baggage-baggage they have to carry around.”

“Hey…” said Craig, pulling on Tweek’s arm so Tweek would look at him in the face, “Don’t say that about yourself. Your dad already said that shit about you, you shouldn’t. Because you're smarter than that.”

“But Craig,” interrupted Tweek, his eyes looking at Craig’s, a wet sheen over them, “I-I don’t know. I can’t help feel like he’s right.”

“He’s not.”

“How do you know that?” enquired Tweek, his face so open that Craig reached out and pull Tweek into a hug. 

“Because you are the best person I know. Your kind, you're super nice to Stripe, you hang out with my friends, and you don’t make me be something I am not. You're not a nuisance, you're my best friend.”

Tweek just tighten his hands on Craig’s shirt, shutting his eyes tight, not wanting to shed a tear, “Thanks,”

“No problem,” mumbled Craig into Tweek’s hair. 

It wasn’t until later that night, after the boys talked a little bit more about their parents, that they decided to head back to sleep. However, Tweek made sure to talk to Craig about what happened between his father and the cigarettes. The first time Craig mentioned doing this, Tweek was fully supportive, telling Craig it was the right thing to do, and that if he needed a place to hide out after, his room was open for him. 

Craig did go to Tweek’s room, but not to hide from his dad’s rage, but to talk to Tweek about how he was feeling. He started telling Tweek about what his dad told him, and Craig would be hard to admit it, but he was touched by what his dad said. Tweek just gave him a brief hug and told him it was okay to feel that way since he felt bad about what he did, but was happy about the affection his father was giving him. 

Craig couldn’t help but think back to that conversation and how Tweek knew so much about parents. He wondered to himself as he laid in bed, how did Tweek know so much about this? His dad didn’t seem like the type to offer advice and compliments to Tweek. Maybe, Tweek was the one to compliment himself. 

As Craig pulled up the sheets and wrapped himself in them, he made a proposition to himself. He was going to be the one paying compliments to Tweek, because someone like Tweek deserved them, especially given the fact that his own dad won’t do that for. Craig would make sure that Tweek knew he was important because, for Craig, he was someone he thinks he couldn’t live without. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend will post the chapters on Tumblr if you want to follow there and post fanart by tagging her. I am not sure how it works really. Her profile is sofiavs111. Thanks for all your support.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next episode next Sunday.

Summer ended as quickly as it came. During the whole break, Tweek and Craig would either hang out with each other or with some of their friends. They usually hung out as a group at Token’s house, since there was so much to do there, or at the park, where they would join up with Stan’s group. Overall, summer was an enjoyable moment for Tweek, who got to do more stuff this year than he ever done in the previous years. But before they returned to school on August 8th, Tweek is going to turn 11 six days earlier. Tweek didn’t know how to bring up with Craig or any of his friends. He knew their birthdays, but he didn’t want to appear needy and just blurt out that his birthday was going to be on August 2nd. So he kept quiet. 

And eventually, it was his birthday. 

The usual thing happened in the morning, his mom made him white chocolate chip waffles, with strawberry syrup she made from scratch. Tweek thanked his mom, a smile evident on his face, and dug into his breakfast. His mother chuckled at the enthusiasm of his son and ruffled his head. She then wished him a happy birthday and told him that she was going to make a red velvet cake just for him. Tweek thanked his mother and hugged her in response. 

“You don’t have to thank me Tweek,” his mother said as she hugged her son, “You go out and hang out with your friends, I am sure they will have some nice gifts for you.”

Tweek just smiled at here, not wanting her to catch on to the fact that his friends probably didn’t know today was his birthday. 

Tweek walked out of his house, wearing a blue short sleeve shirt and loose jeans, both gifts from his father, who wasn’t at home to tell him happy birthday. He probably went to Harbucks already to make sure that it was fully functioning and won’t return until late at night. Tweek hoped his father remembered it was his birthday, Tweek remembered how two years ago his father was so preoccupied with opening a second coffee shop that he completely forgot about Tweek’s birthday. Tweek remembered how his mother would try to get his father to remember what day it was, but his father kept telling her he was much too busy for chit chat. His mother tried to be twice as excited to make up for Tweek’s father’s absence. The worst thing though was that his father was right there in the household, but it was as if he wasn’t even there. 

Thankfully his mother became stricter about events concerning Tweek and made sure that Richard was up to date on all things concerning Tweek. But since Richard became the manager of the South Park Harbucks, he has been increasingly busy, especially when Harbucks offered him the position to be the supervisor of all Bucks in their county. So really, Tweek wasn’t his hopes up.

As Tweek reached Craig’s house, it was like any other day. Craig was on the couch, his feet on the back of the couch and his head on the floor. 

“Hey Craig,”

Craig nodded his head in response. 

Just as Tweek was about to sit down on the couch, Craig propped himself up and grabbed Tweek’s hand, yelling at his mom how he and Tweek were going to hang out at the town. Laura just told them to be safe, and they were off. 

Tweek was unsure of what was happening, but he let Craig drag him around town. Eventually, they arrived at Papa John’s pizzeria. Craig went inside and Tweek followed him. Craig picked up two pizza boxes and paid for them. He then left the restaurant, and Tweek followed him because he wasn’t sure what was happening at all. 

Eventually, Craig stopped in front of Clyde’s house, confusing Tweek even more. Before Craig could knock on the door, Clyde opened the door and when he saw Tweek, he waved at him. 

“Tweek!” Clyde went running out of the door, almost crashing into Craig who was walking inside to put the pizza on the coffee table. Clyde went to hug Tweek, and yelled, “Happy Birthday!”

Tweek’s body went stiff at the implication of what Clyde what just said. Clyde knew it was his birthday, and since Clyde isn’t known to be someone who can keep secrets. So that means that Craig and Token must know about today. Tweek peeked over Clyde’s shoulder and saw Token and Craig who were shaking their head in exasperation. 

“Clyde, we were all going to say happy birthday to him, so he could be even more surprised,” chastised Token. 

“Oh yeah, sorry,” apologized Clyde, but he didn’t really sound that sorry.

“Wh-what's all this for,” stuttered Tweek.

“It's your birthday, dude,” said Token, “Craig mentioned it a week ago, and he said we should throw you-OWW,” Token rubbed his shoulder where Craig punched him. 

“So Tweek, are you ready to have the best birthday party ever,” asked Clyde. 

“O-Of course,” replied Tweek cautiously. 

After that, Tweek went through a whirlwind of activities. Once Tweek told Clyde that he never had a birthday party, Clyde took it upon himself to give Tweek the whole experience. He took out all the party games that he uses for his own party games and began to explain the rules. 

The first game pinned the tail on the donkey, while Tweek got freaked out over since he was blindfolded and spun around. Tweek exclaimed how he didn’t want to hurt anyone, and even with his friends reaffirming him that he wouldn’t be able to poke them, Tweek, however, was scared of pinning anything, so that game ended quite quickly. 

The second game Clyde tried was hitting the pinata. For some reason, Clyde had an extra pinata and he tied up on the branch of the tree in the backyard (with the help of his dad, since Clyde couldn’t reach the branch at all). When they began to take turns to hit the pinata, they realized that no one was able to make a dent in it. After that, all the boys got a stick and started to beat the pinata together. They did break it and found out that the pinata was made out of ten layers of paper mache. Sadly, it was empty.

After the annihilation of the pinata, the boys decided to eat the pizza, which was now cold. However Clyde’s dad heats them up in the oven and the boys commenced to eat their pizza (which was Hawaiian, Tweek’s favorite). During their lunch, Clyde took out a bunch of red cups and challenged them to a cup stacking competition. Of course, Clyde sucked at it. 

Token, surprisingly, was quite good at it. Craig and Tweek couldn’t stack them fast enough, but when it came to putting them all together, it was quite easy. Clyde started to get frustrated, stating how he was only warming up, and how he needed the motivation to be faster. 

Clyde decided to challenge Token to a cup stacking competition, which was on his part, a horrible idea. Token easily finished stacking his cups, but Clyde in his hurry ripped his cups due to his grip. However, Clyde tried to salvage them and continued to stack them, which only ended with the cups getting mutilated thanks to Clyde’s grip. 

This caused Craig to chuckle and which in turn prompted Tweek to laugh as well. Clyde went red from embarrassment, but he quickly shoved the same away when he realized Tweek was having fun. 

After that, Craig decided that Token and Clyde should give Tweek their gifts. Token took out a blue bag with white tissue paper on the top. Tweek thanked Token and opened his gift. Inside were a pair of shoes, a pair that looked like all of his owns shoes combined. Tweek was shocked that Token would buy something so expensive for him, and he commenced to tell Token that he shouldn’t feel obligated to buy something so expensive for Tweek. 

“Don’t worry about it Tweek,” said Token, “I wanted to buy you something nice, that's it.”

Tweek, was still a little bit uncomfortable about received such an expensive, but he didn’t vocalize it. He thanked Token again and proceeded to open Clyde’s present, which was wrapped. Inside were some sweaters. 

“I thought, since you have so much trouble buttoning up your shirts, you could use something you could just slip into, plus they're really warm and soft.”

Tweek smiled at Clyde’s excitement, “Thank you Clyde and Token, I love them.”

Before Clyde and Token could say something in response, Craig grabbed Tweek’s hand and started to pull him along, “Okay, I and Tweek are going to head out and hang out.”

Token and Clyde looked at Craig in confusion, but seemed to understand, “Oh I see,” said Token smugly, “Want some personal time with your boyfriend?”

Clyde started to fanboy while Craig just flipped him off. Tweek gathered up his presents before he was dragged out of the house and yelled and quick goodbye and thanks to the boys. Token and Clyde just waved at him, laughing at Craig’s antics. 

As Craig was pulling Tweek along, he slowed down to let Tweek catch up and walk alongside him. Eventually, Craig stopped in front of South Park’s pet store. 

“What are we doing here?” asked Tweek. 

“Well,” started Craig, “I thought that of getting you a gift and I couldn’t really think of anything, so I thought I’ll let you pick one out. And I remembered how much you loved animals, so I thought, ‘Hey, Tweek could pick out his own pet,’”

As Craig was explaining that, he pushed open the door, signaling the cashier of their entrance with a bell chime. The moment they entered the pet store, they were assaulted with the sounds of dogs, cats, birds, and other pets that Tweek couldn’t make out. 

Craig thought for a second that Tweek was going to experience an anxiety attack due to all the song, but when he glanced over at him, he saw the gleam in Tweek’s eye due to being in the presence of so many animals. 

“Craig, I could have any animal as a pet?” asked Tweek, a hint of amazement in his voice. 

“Yeah.”

Tweek began to twitch with excitement, squealing when he approached the animals. With the puppies, Tweek almost lost his cool. But Tweek knew that he couldn’t get a big animal that required high maintenance or would roam around the house. His father wasn’t really comfortable with dogs and cats in the house, so those two were out. Tweek thought about maybe a reptile or a hamster like Craig, but Tweek thought that the only hamster in his life should be Stripe, she contained all the adorableness Tweek needed. 

Tweek was about to say that he’ll take a turtle when all of a sudden he heard the music. 

“Did you hear that?” asked Tweek. 

“What?” questioned Craig, who was too amused in watching Tweek trying to figure out what animal to pick. 

“The music,”

“Oh, it's probably coming from the birds.”

Tweek walked over to the cages where all the birds were. From the signs, Tweek says that there were parakeets, conures, and canaries. All in assortment of colors, from green, blue, orange, gray, and red. Tweek was going to pick one of the smaller birds until he saw him. A white bird who had yellow feathers on top of its bed. It was by itself in the cage, but it sang the most beautiful tune that made Tweek want to squeal. 

“Craig,” said Tweek, pulling on Craig’s shirt, “I want that one,”

“Oh, a cockatoo?”

“Yeah.”

As Craig told the store owner, Tweek was whistling at the cockatoo, who seemed to get excited and rapidly started chirping. As the storekeeper got the bird out of the cage and put it in a new one, complete with food, toys, and feeding areas, Craig took out his money to pay. 

“I thought you didn’t have an allowance anymore?”

“I don’t. This is money I saved up, I guess if I am going to spend it, I might as well spend it on something I know my  _ boyfriend  _ will like.”

Craig made sure to emphasize the boyfriend part. The shopkeeper was paying close attention, and when he noticed that this was a fabled couple of the town, the shopkeeper gave Craig an eight percent discount, which made the total come out to around thirty bucks. 

As Craig walked Tweek home, he was holding Tweek’s presents as Tweek was holding the cage and the bag of pet supplies. As they reached Tweek’s house, Tweek turned around and faced Craig. 

“Thank you so much, Craig.”

“Don’t mention it,”

“No,” started Tweek, “I-I didn’t think anyone who wou-would know it was birthday today. But you did. And you, uh, planned all of this and told the other guys. Just… I am so… happy.”

Tweek was smiling brightly at Craig and as he reached out to grab his hand, he gave it a small squeeze, “Your the best.”

“Yeah,” said Craig, “I mean, not yeah, just… you are too… the best I mean.”

Tweek chuckled at Craig’s behavior, “Is the great ‘bitch-faced Craig’ actually shy?”

Craig flipped him off with his free hand and Tweek laughed, flipping him off as well. Craig smiled and bid Tweek goodbye, Tweek waved goodbye to him and entered his house. 

His mother had a caked baked for him, so when she saw Tweek walk inside, she gestured him toward the kitchen to get a slice. Twerk showed his mother the gifts he received, which she greatly enjoyed. She was especially pleased with the gift Craig bought him, saying that it was a good choice for a boyfriend to do. 

After Tweek finished his slice of cake he went upstairs and placed his bird next to the window. Tweek stared at his bird, thinking of a name for him. 

“Kiwi,” he said, trying out the sound of it. The bird chirped as if saying that he liked that name. 

Tweek decided to head to bed, he didn’t want his day to go sour if his father forgot about his birthday. And even the Tweek was pretty sure that everything his friends did for today couldn't make him feel sad at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter would be the last one that is when they are ten. After that, it would be jumping ahead to when they are teenagers. 
> 
> Comments and questions are welcomed. Thanks for reading.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In honor of my friend who got braces in 6th grade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I was super tired from last night partying. Hope you enjoy.

It was the first day of fifth grade and Craig was already tired of Clyde’s bullshit. Clyde walked into school with confidence in every step he took. Apparently, since they are all in fifth grades, Clyde thinks that all underclassmen are going to respect them and they’re going to be the top dogs in the school. Clyde, of course, forgot about Cartman, but really who was Craig to spoil his fun.

What Craig really cared about was Tweek, who despite his excitement wasn’t twitchy. There’s was a buzz of energy around him, but nothing like he was last year.  Craig was happy that Tweek wasn’t as nervous or anxious as last year. He wasn’t perfect, but then he wouldn’t be Tweek if he was. 

But overall, fifth grade was hardly exciting compared to fourth grade. There wasn’t any crazy hijinks that happened, just homework and having fun really. Craig still remembered when his birthday came in mid-November and Tweek was able to convince Craig’s dad to let him watch a movie marathon of Red Racer with him. Craig still remembers how nervous Tweek was the days before it, trying to hide his surprise party from him (which really wasn’t worth the effort since Craig figured it out when Clyde was telling Token quite loudly in the hallways). But it was nice either way. His parents weren’t fighting anymore, he had all his friends there, and his grandmother came again. Craig would never forget how embarrassing she was, fawning over him and Tweek, asking how their relationship was. 

But Craig couldn’t stay mad at his grandmother who liked to but into people’s personal lives. That's just how she is and he wouldn’t trade her for the world. But her questioning did bring up a certain conversation topic he and Tweek been meaning to talk about. 

Craig and Tweek weren’t comfortable with lying to Clyde and Token about their relationship. Actually, Craig didn’t really care about the lying, but Tweek having lived almost his whole childhood without friends didn’t want to purposely lose them because of their actions.

And even though Clyde is a shitty liar and even shittier at keeping secrets, they decided to tell them anyways. 

So, after school, and all the boys were doing homework in Token’s room, Craig decided to spring the truth on them. 

“I and Tweek aren’t dating,”

“What!” yelled Clyde who broke his pencil in surprise, “What do you mean you're not a couple, you guys been dating for almost six months, how-how can you say that Craig, think about Tweek”

“Cra-Craig’s right Clyde.”

“What,” yelled Clyde even longer. 

“Okay, what’s really happening here?” questioned Token as he set down his math worksheet and pencil to look at Craig and Tweek, “Your making Clyde sentimental,”

“I am not sentimental,”

“Shut up Clyde,” said Token, “Well?”

“Umm,” stuttered Tweek, twiddling with h is thumbs, trying to come up with a way to break the news, “you see, it's-the issue of it all-umm,”

“Tweek and I have been faking out relationship so that everyone in this shitty town can be happy.”

“Craig,” screeched Tweek. Why couldn't Craig consider his friend’s feelings for once, he didn’t always have to live up to his ‘dead-face’ persona. 

“What...what?” whimpered Clyde quietly. 

Craig, who was still doing his homework during this whole time, looked up and saw Clyde’s grief stricken face. Craig’s mouth went dry, recognizing what that face meant and started to mentally cursed himself. 

“You're just playing around, right? You guys are Tweek Craig, you're the star couple of South Park, right,” pleaded Clyde.

“Clyde,” said Tweek, his voice sweet and calming, “What Craig said is true, we been faking the whole time,”

And that's when all hell was broke loose in the forms of screaming, crying, and just plain anger. 

Clyde began to furiously cry, which was not a pleasant sight since Clyde is an ugly crier. He started to pull out fanart of Tweek and Craig and started to show them how beautiful they were together, that they couldn’t do this. He started to cry over the drawings, and when he noticed they were getting wet, he cried even more in anguish and anger. 

Token came to Clyde’s side and started to pat his back, not sure how to handle an emotionally compromised Clyde. Tweek scooted over to Clyde’s side and slowly placed a gentle hand on Clyde’s shoulder, “This is why we been faking having a relationship,” said Tweek, “We didn’t want the townsfolk to get like this, we didn’t want them to get sad.”

Clyde looked up from his drawing and looked at Tweek with red-rimmed eyes and a runny nose, which was rubbed red due to Clyde’s sleeve.

“Tweek, you and Craig, are-are the best-and-and I am sorry I freaked out-out. I am just so sad it's not real!” wailed Clyde as he held onto Tweek. Tweek just patted Clyde’s back, with Token eyeballing Craig to say something to. 

“I am sorry Clyde that you had to find out this way,” began Craig, “It's just, Tweek and I thought we should tell you guys the truth,”

Clyde mumbled thanks into Tweek’s shirt, which Tweek was going to burn once he got home since it was probably covered in snot, but he was okay with that. 

~~~

After the ‘truth’ incident, everything went back to normal. Clyde would stare at Tweek and him lovingly every time they held hands, but at least he knew not to get obsessed over their relationship like the Asians girls were doing on a weekly basis. 

So really, Craig thought that fifth grade was going to end just fine. Well, it would have ended with okay if his parents hadn’t decided he needed braces. They explained to him that he needed braces for three years, so he should have them during middle school and he wouldn’t have to worry about it during high school. Craig didn’t want braces at all, but it was his parents’ word against his. 

Craig didn’t feel the need to tell any of his friends. It wasn’t that he thought they would make fun of him, it's just that Clyde didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, and he knew for a fact that Cartman was going to catch the whiff of Clyde’s nervous energy and get the information out from him. Or use Butters to get information since everyone thought Butters was a nice guy, even Craig himself. 

So after his dentist appointment of Friday afternoon, Craig was dreading Monday. Every minute, every second, was just one step closer to Monday. Craig thought of ways to not open his mouth. Craig could flip off most of the people he didn’t hang out with, that should be enough. He could be abnormally quiet around the other guys. However, it was Tweek he would be the hardest to trick that there was nothing wrong happening. 

He and Tweek hanged out a lot at home and in public. Tweek would immediately take notice when Craig suddenly went silent. However, Craig was betting on the fact that Tweek would be accepting of his sudden selective muteness and leave him be. 

Now all Craig had to do was keep this up for at least six hours a day for three years. 

Yeah, easy.

~~~

Craig’s day already started off horrible thanks to Tweek being such a fucking observant person. As Tweek and Craig were walking to school, Tweek couldn’t help but notice how odd Craig’s face looked. Of course, Tweek didn’t want to make this noticeable, just in case Craig got self-conscious (which he those, even though he denies it) or something much worse was wrong with Craig. Maybe he got beat up, but no Tweek was with him on Friday, but not the weekend. Maybe he got in trouble with some delinquents, or the motorcycle gang. Oh god! What if he has no teeth! How could he eat anything! Tweek thought logically and tried to calm himself down, he knew that wasn’t really likely to happen, and the likelihood was the key here.

Hopefully, before Tweek could work himself into another panic he decided to just ask Craig what was wrong. 

“Craig?” questioned Tweek, Craig just hummed in response.

“Umm, well I wanted to ask, is there something in your mouth? I mean is-is it like sore or hurting you?” Tweek’s voice dwindled into nothingness when Craig glared at him the more he talked, “Oh, you don’t want to talk about? That's okay, I get it.”

Tweek and Craig both walked to school hand in hand. But Craig was internally freaking out. How did Tweek figure out so quickly, but luckily for Craig, Tweek was understanding of when someone didn’t want to talk and Craig’s glare was a sure sign of that. 

Sadly, Craig’s other friends weren’t so forthcoming. 

“Craig what's up with your face?” questioned Clyde the moment he saw Craig in the classroom. Craig just flipped Clyde off, and Clyde just rolled his eyes in exasperation, “Fine dude, I was just asking.”

What none of Craig’s friends could see however was how Craig was freaking out because it was the only day one and all of his friends were noticing how his face looked weird or strange. It would only be a matter of time before they ask again. All of sudden Craig came to a realization, they had lunch later in the day, how was he suppose to eat if he couldn’t open his mouth. He groaned out loud, causing Tweek to look at him in concern, but quickly returned to his items when Craig didn’t seem to be in distress. 

However Craig was, he had no idea how he was going to survive lunchtime. 

~~~

All the boys were almost done with their lunches, all of them except Craig who hasn’t even touched it food it seemed. 

“Craig?” said Tweek, “Are you not going to eat anything.”

Craig just shook his head and looked at the far end of the cafeteria. 

The boys sat there in silence, not sure what has gotten over Craig. 

“Ahhh, I know what’s this about,” said a voice behind the group of friends. 

They all turned around and saw Cartman looking smugly at them as if he just figured out a puzzle, “The fag had some work done on him,”

“Work?” questioned Token, “What do you mean Cartman,”

Cartman sat comfortable at their table, grabbing the apple of Clyde’s track despite Clyde’s protest, “What I am saying is that Craig looks like he got a mouth full of cotton. Dude got braces on and is too embarrassed to tell anyone about it.”

Craig’s head shoots up and he started to glare right at Cartman’s face. This seem to only make Cartman laugh, “What? You think you're gonna scare me with that pathetic excuse of a face? Please, I’ve seen worse.”

Craig got up from his bench and stalked over to Cartman and stood over him menacingly. Everyone thought that Craig was gonna beat the shit out of Cartman but Cartman reached up toward Craig’s face and pulled his lips back, showing the metal wire that now adorns Craig’s mouth. Craig froze up and slapped Cartman’s hands away from his face. He stood there awkwardly in the middle of the cafeteria and all of a sudden turned around and left through the two doors leading to the playground. 

“Huh, knew that fag couldn’t do anything,” said Cartman as he took another bite of the apple. However, that apple slice came right out of Cartman’s mouth as Tweek reeled back his hand and punched Cartman right on the cheek, “What the fuck! Oww!”

“Shut up Cartman! No one cares about your feelings,”

Tweek then started to walk out of the cafeteria, heading in the same direction that Craig took. Once outside, Tweek tried to think of somewhere Craig would be. Despite there being all sorts of trees outside, Tweek knew that Craig was going to be near the slides, a place he liked since there was a little crevice that hides someone from anyone’s gaze from all sides. 

As Tweek made his way to the slide, he got on his belly and crawled underneath a portion of the slide. Once inside the small space, Tweek saw Craig was sitting, his upper body propped up against a portion of the slide. 

“Craig are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am just fine.”

Tweek looked at Craig with something akin to understanding, “You don’t have to lie to me Craig, you can tell me the truth.”

Craig just exhaled loudly, sitting up straighter so he could be facing Tweek directly, “I am just pissed Cartman did something like that-it's so, so,”

“Fucked up,”

“Yeah, and I just didn’t want anyone to know about my braces.”

“You know,” started Tweek, “It's okay to be embarrassed,”

“I wasn’t embarrassed,” said Craig with a tone of anger. Craig didn’t want to admit he was embarrassed. He was known as the stone-cold bitch at school who didn’t show any emotions, no matter what people said. He didn’t want people to try to be social with him and he didn’t care what people thought about him. So he didn’t care about that fucking Cartman did during lunch. So what if everyone knew about his braces, so what if they started to make of him. He didn’t care at all.

However during Craig’s little monolog Tweek just sadly smiled at Craig, understanding what he was trying to do. He was acting tough so no one can see how badly he’s hurt. How self-conscience he was of his appearance. 

“Craig, I am your tri friend. You-you, don’t have to pretend around me.”

Craig stared at Tweek, trying to keep a straight face so that Tweek wouldn’t see through his facade. But it was too late. The moment Tweek crawled into this little space, 

Craig knew that he was going to spill everything to Tweek. The mere fact that Tweek followed his out to make sure he was okay was enough to make him a little bit giddy inside

“It's just, It's stupid,” said Craig in exasperation. His fears were stupid, he was sure that Tweek didn't want to hear about his self-pity.

“Craig come on just tell me,”

“It's just that these braces make me look ugly and stupid, and ugh, I am not good at talking about this,” Craig just groaned and fell backward slowly not wanting to hit his head against the slide, “Forget about it, it's nothing important.”

Tweek looked at Craig with understanding. He knew how it feels that you couldn't’ talk to anyone about your problems because they wouldn’t understand. The least Tweek could do for Craig was reassure him that he had a friend in him, and he could always rely on him.

“Craig that's not, ugh, stupid. It's okay to feel that way-way, you're the only boy with braces in our class. If you're worried about your looks then you're worried about your looks,” reassured Tweek as he bumped his shoulders against Craig’s, “B-but if you want to hear something to make you feel better, I still think you look handsome.”

Craig just smiled at Tweek, trying to cover the blush that flooded into his cheeks, “Oh my god Tweek that's go gay.”

“Well,” said Tweek with a teasing voice, “ I am your fake-boyfriend after all,” 

Craig laughed now, not afraid of how his mouth looked, this was Tweek and he understood Craig more that he did himself, “Yeah, you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update Wednesday. Remember comments and suggestions are welcomed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to all the lovely comments I have received. Especially from Nihi, CreekOTP, and twinklingpaopufruit.

Looking back on it, Craig was lucky that he didn’t have to deal with Valentine's Day until middle school. True, Tweek and him were ‘dating’ in fifth grade, but Craig was getting work done on his birthday, and Tweek didn’t expect Craig to do anything for him for Valentines Day, especially given how much pain Craig was in during that whole school year. But now that they are twelve and in sixth grade, a whole new level of expectations was placed on Craig’s shoulder, and from none other than Tweek himself.

They were walking to school, and since it was February, they were wearing their normal winter gear. Craig his chullo hat and his blue jacket, Tweek a dark brown jacket with a gray sweater underneath. They were holding hands as usual, but Tweek had an unusual skip in his step. Craig didn’t really mind, Tweek was becoming more and more confident as the years passed. He hardly stuttered unless he was very nervous. He didn’t have panic or anxiety attacks as often too. So really, Craig didn’t think anything about Tweek’s chipper mood. It was nice to see Tweek so happy all the time. Craig could still remember when Tweek and his dad had a normal conversation since his dad wasn't being a jerk about him dating another boy. He remembered how his dad would ask Tweek about boxing, and Tweek's eyes would light up in excitement. 

“So Craig,” started Tweek, “Do you know what this Friday is?”

“Umm, today's the 10th, so the 14th, oh shit,” the moment Craig realized this, Tweek smiled at him, tighten their hands.

“Yeah, and this time you're going to have to earn it,”

“Earn what?” questioned Craig.

“Being my boyfriend of course,” said Tweek, a hint of amusement in his tone, “I mean after all you were cheating on me, and last Valentine's Day you were busy, so you have to make up for lost time,”

“What?!” exclaimed Craig, “Tweek you can’t be serious. You know that I never cheated on you.”

Tweek kept a straight face, but he couldn’t hold it and it broke into a smile, “Of course not, but people are serious about this holiday and they took notice of your lack of celebration last year. So I tho-thought we could celebrate this year,” He looked at Craig now, a smile not as wide as before, as if he was hesitant about Craig's reaction. He knew Craig wasn't one to go along with what everyone else did and hated, even more, when he was told what to do.by other people. Which really explains why he and Craig fought over people thinking they were gay. 

“Oh okay,” said Craig with a shrug of his shoulder

“But,” started Tweek, knowing Craig wouldn't just agree so readily if he wasn't okay with it, “Don’t think I’ll be easy to find a gift for.”

Tweek turned his head so he was smiling at Craig cheekily, “I want something genuine,”

“Tweek,” whined Craig, showing his true feelings about this holiday, “Come on dude,”

Tweek chuckled at Craig’s discomfort, enjoying this more and more. Token was the one that actually brought it up, He said it was strange that Craig and he didn’t really do any couple things during romantic holidays. Sure they hung out during Christmas and New Years Eve, but they didn't do it alone or give each other gifts beside from those a friend would give. He also said how he heard some of the Asian girls get suspicious, so unless Tweek and Craig wanted to be followed around 24/7 by pubescent girls, they had to play the role.

“No buts man, I am sure you’ll do great,” said Tweek as he let go of Craig’s hand and headed over to this first period, leaving behind a scowling Craig.

~~~

“What the fuck man, you brought this up with Tweek!” screamed Craig into his phone and he was trying to do his pre-algebra homework and by try, there was just one completed problem before his mind swerved to the left when he realized that he had to give a gift to Tweek on Valentines day.

“Calm down Craig,” said Token, his voice static over the receiver, “It's not the end of the world. You guys hang out non-stop anyways, you just have to be a little more affectionate this Friday. ”

“That's the problem,” grumbled Craig.

“No it really isn’t,” reaffirmed Token, “Look, I only brought it up because some of the Asian girls were talking about how you guys didn’t go out for Valentine's Day last year. The main Asian, Linda, calmed them down and told them you had a dentist appointment, but they were ready to follow you guys around to make sure your relationship was, and I quote, “still blazing hot and not just mere embers,”

“Christ,”

“Yeah man, that's exactly what I thought,” interjected Token, “That’s why I mentioned it to Tweek, cause Tweek would be able to bring it up to you,”

“Yeah he did,” said Craig, “I just didn’t think it would be so bad,”

“See nothing to worry about,”

“Not really,” interrupted Craig, he laid on his bed, he wasn’t going to get his homework done, he might as well get comfortable, “I have no idea what to get him for Valentines Day,”

“Well I don’t know chocolates, flowers, stuffed animals,” added Token.

“That’s not going to work on Tweek like it did with Nichole last year. Plus were guys, what do guys get guys when they're dating,”

There was a pregnant pause on the other side of the receiver as if Token was trying to think of something to say. Craig was about to hang up until he heard Token’s voice again, “Sorry I had to ask Clyde that question. He suggests still getting him chocolates, or a baked good, but a gift should be something you can make, he said Tweek would appreciate it, and I think that he's right for a change,”

“Okay, I’ll think of something, thanks,” before Token could reply, Craig already hung up the receiver.

Craig laid on his bed, playing around with the ends of his chullo hat. He had no idea what to get Tweek for Valentine's Day. He could just ignore what Clyde suggested, and just buy him a new lego set or something for his bird, or hair ties. He always liked how Tweek's hair would look when it was held back in braids or pinned up. 

Craig shook his head to try to stop that train of thought, now wasn't the time. He knew Tweek would be happy with what Craig gave him, but Craig wanted to give Tweek something he made with his bare hands. He didn’t want to be like Stan who bought Wendy grocery store roses, that was just plain cheap. Yeah, Wendy looked lovestruck, but Craig didn't want to be like Stan and leave everything to the last second, he'll do it right. But he just couldn’t really think of anything, nothing at all.

Craig decided to scroll through his phone, maybe he’ll get some ideas that way. As he opened his phone, he started at the picture of him and Tweek during Christmas. Tweek came with him to his Grandma’s house, and both of them were bundled up for the cold. Craig remembered how pink Tweek’s cheeks were thanks to his ear muffs and mittens and his big old jacket. They were snuggled next to each other with Ruby in the middle of them (something that Craig was about to yell at her about, but one look from Tweek and he shut up). Then all of a sudden it hit him.

Craig got up from his bed and rummaged through his closet, hoping that his usual cleanliness didn’t have him throw away what he was looking for. Thankfully, he hadn’t. Craig took out the ball of wool and thanked his grandmother a thousand time for have given him this. But the most important question was how was Craig going to make Tweek a scarf.

~~~

Tweek liked seeing Craig have a panic attack over what to get him for Valentines Day. Not that Tweek liked saying Craig in pain, but because Craig was always calm and collected, so seeing him so open with emotion was a nice change. That is until Tweek realized that he also had to do something for Craig as well. Fuck, he really didn’t think this one through. But that’s okay because Tweek was sure that he’ll figure something out. That is until it was Thursday, and he still didn’t have anything for Craig.

Tweek could already imagine the scenario. Craig bringing him an amazing gift, so thoughtful and sweet (maybe literally if it was chocolate) and Tweek empty handed. That was too much pressure for Tweek. He had to take action. But right now he was clueless.

His mother probably picked up on his conflicted state due to the fact he kept missing putting the fork into his mouth, either stabbing himself in the face or dropping a whole glob of spaghetti on the floor.

“Tweek, honey, is something the matter?” she asked as she was drying her hands on the towel.

“Oh! Oh no, not really it's just….uh,”

“Oh,” said his mother with the realization in his eyes, “Is this about Valentine's Day?”

Tweek sputtered into his glass of juice, almost choking, “No! I me-mean… yes, it's just, ho-how did you know?”

Tweek’s mother just smiled, “Oh, I was young once you see. Plus mothers know these types of things,” she sat down on the chair next to Tweek, placing a hand on her son's shoulder, “Are you not sure on what to give your boyfriend?”

“Ye-yeah.”

“Well,” began his mother, “What about some chocolates,”

“I am no-not sure he’ll like that,” added Tweek as he looked downcast at his hands. As if noticing her son's growing despair, she quickly thought of another answer.

“Well, what about something with chocolate, like cookies?”

Tweek thought about Craig and how much he loved eating oatmeal cookies his grandmother made last Christmas. If he could re-create that for him he's sure that Craig would be happy with his gift, “Could-could, uh, you make oa-oatmeal cookies?”

Tweek’s mother smiled warmly at her son, happy to offer any kind of assistance to her son, “Of course Tweek, come one let's take out the ingredients from the fridge,”

After that, it was just a simple affair. Tweek at first couldn’t pour the accurate amounts of any of the ingredients. When he cracked the eggs he would get some pieces of eggshells into the batter. He even almost added salt to the batter because it looked like sugar.

 He was scared that his mother was going to yell at him for being useless or a klutz. However, she just smiled at Tweek and told him it was okay, and just reminded him to just add more of the other ingredients so everything would get balanced out or to just take out the eggshells from the mix. Thanks to his mother’s calm demeanor, Tweek also relaxed, and was able to do more of the tasks easier, such as breaking eggs and forming the oatmeal cookies.

His mother recommended putting some cinnamon on top of the cookies to give it more of a sweet flavor. However, Tweek was too excited and dumped a whole avalanche on the cookies, creating a mountain of cinnamon on top of the cookie batter. Disappointed, Tweek felt he ruined the whole batch, however, his mother just chuckled.

“That's okay Tweek, just roll them so the cinnamon would be in all of the dough and not just the top,”

Tweek did just that, wanting to fix his mistake as soon as possible.

Soon all the cookies went into the oven and were warm and brown when they came out.

“Okay Tweek, put them on the drying sheet and once there not warm any more you can put them in this box,” she took out a small red box, with a white bow on top, “If you want to, you can add something to the box, draw or write a little note,”

“Thanks, mother,” said Tweek, smiling at all the cookies he made, “Is it, uh, okay if all of this goes to Craig?”

“Of course sweetie,” said Barbara as she patted down pieces of Tweek's hair that escaped the little hair clips he used to push his hair back.

Later, as Tweek put all the cookies away and got busy with writing his little note, his mother drank tea, smiling at the dedication Tweek put forth on his Valentines gift.

~~~

It was Valentine's day and Craig was already getting tired of all of this. Couples were everywhere, girls with blushing faces and guys that held gigantic teddy bears and heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolate. But what made this day bad was when Tweek told him he’ll meet him at school instead of Craig picking him up from his house.

Craig felt a phantom feeling in his hand as if he could feel Tweek’s palm against his own. But he knew he was just imagining it.

As Craig reached the school grounds, everyone started looking at him and at his gift that was wrapped in white wrapping paper (which his mom helped him with). Of course, they were trying to not make it obvious but Craig could tell when people stopped midway in their conversations to look at him as he walked toward the locker rooms. Really, the people of South Park aren't ever going to change when it comes to his relationship with Tweek.

Once he got near the lockers, he saw Tweek wearing his white earmuffs and holding a red box, talking with Token and Clyde. Craig swallowed, feeling his mouth get dry and tight as if he was nervous. As get got closer, Tweek turned around and made eye contact with him, a large grin appearing on his face when he noticed it was Craig.

“Hey Craig, Happy Valentines Day,”

“Happy Valentines Day Tweek,” grumbled Craig, he didn’t want anyone else to pry into this moment. But it was already too late given the fact that Clyde and Token were right behind Tweek and a small group of students already took notice of the scene he and Tweek unintentionally made.

Tweek didn’t mind Craig’s tone of voice, used to his behavior and he understood that Craig didn't like all of these nosy people, “Here I made you something,” Tweek handed the box over to Craig,  his arms awkwardly held out.

Lucky Craig saved his arms the trouble and took the gift, depositing his own into Tweek’s arms. Tweek smiled at Craig’s gift and when he looked up he gestured Craig to open up the box.

Craig did just that and when he looked inside, he saw that it was filled with oatmeal cookies. Craig took one cookie and bite into, surprised with how sweet it was, despite it only being made out of oatmeals, “This is good,”.

“Thanks, my mom helped me make it. I was-wasn’t really sure how much to make, so, I ugh, made a whole batch,”

Craig nodded, taking another cookie to eat. However, before he could bite into the cookie he told Tweek to open his own gift.

Tweek peeled back the wrapping paper and when he saw the gift, his face beamed with surprise and happiness. He took out the scarf and held it out, feeling all of the edges and interlaced wool.

“Craig,” began Tweek, his voice low, “This is so cool. I didn’t know you could knit,”

“Yeah, I called my grandma and she thought me how to do it. I thought they’ll look nice with your earmuffs,” replied Craig, putting his cookies into his backpack, he didn’t want to eat them all at once.

Tweek held his scarf gingerly as if he was afraid that he’ll unravel it if he made a wrong move. Craig huffed in amusement, “Here let me,”

Craig stepped closer to Tweek and grabbed the scarf. He wrapped it around Tweek’s neck, his own hands touching Tweek’s neck and cheek. Once it was wrapped nicely around Tweek’s neck, he shoved the endings into Tweek’s jacket, “There,” he said admiring his work.

Tweek touched the scarf that now surrounded his neck and smiled at Craig, “Thank you, Craig,”

For some reason Craig felt his chest get tight, a warmth climbing up his body making his body extremely warm. The look Tweek gave him was one of pure gratefulness and he saw a version of that look before. But with Tweek looking all warm and snuggly, wearing something he made, made Craig feel extremely warm, his mouth felt like cotton, and his palms were sweaty yet at the same time he felt chills travel his spine.

“No-no problem,” responded Craig, his voice high pitched and his face showing an expression of befuddlement.

During the whole exchange, all of the students looked at the couple and awed at the cuteness and purity of such a scene. Even Clyde shed a tear here and there due to how cute they were and then shed, even more, tears when he remembered that they weren’t a couple.

However, Token was the only one who wasn’t awwing. He was staring at Craig as if trying to figure out a puzzle piece. Token has known Craig for a long time, more than Clyde and especially more than Tweek, but he has never seen Craig look like that. Like someone knocked the air out of his lungs, his eyes dazed. He looked confused, staring at Tweek as if he was the most unbelievable thing he ever was seen. The most shocking thing was that Craig was showing emotion in public. Sure, he would get mad and excited at times, but never in front of strangers, and he would definitely not stutter or blush in front of his fellow classmates. Token knows that Craig and Tweek aren’t really a couple, but Token knew that look Craig had for Tweek was the same one Tweek has for Craig.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this. More to come next Sunday.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a picture I found on Pinterest. I don't know the artist, (I think its dogpu@tumblr but I am not sure. Thank you (if you know how to upload pictures please tell me)
> 
> Also, they are near the end of 6th grade.

It was fast approaching the end of sixth grade and Tweek couldn’t help but notice the lack of time he and Craig would spend after school. Ever since Wendy convinced him to join theater, Tweek been spending time after school working on props and outfit designs. He didn’t feel confident enough to actually act on stage, but Craig reassured him that he’ll do great. Thinking back on Craig, Tweek couldn’t help but think about how Craig started to stay after school for video editing too so he could walk Tweek home.

Tweek didn’t say anything because he knows how shy and defensive Craig could get, but it was such a sweet thing for Craig to do. In addition, Tweek mentioned that Craig should be tech support for the theater. At first, Craig rejected such an offer, but Tweek noticed how Craig would talk to the theater teacher who would explain the whole process of the lights and sounds. Tweek was sure that he and Craig would work side by side next school year.

But thankfully, there weren't any productions happening right now, so Tweek invited the gang to his house to play some video games. Craig readily agreed along with Token and Clyde.

Once they arrived at his house Tweek turned on his assassin's creed game and allowed Craig to play with it, with the rest of the boys having conversations about school and movies and other mundane stuff. Craig would interject a thought here and there, but he was mostly concentrated on the game.

It wasn’t until later that Tweek decided he had to talk to his bird Kiwi. It has has been a long time since Tweek has given his much-adored pet personal attention. Every morning he would whistle as he got ready so he could hear Kiwi chirp in response. He took him out of his cage and Kiwi was perched on his fingers, chirping musical note into the air.

Tweek began whistled to his bird as if he was talking to him. Kiwi responded in kind, chirping excitedly as Tweek began to pet his feathers on the top of his head. Tweek laid down on his bed and continued this little conversation as the boys continued playing.

Clyde took notice of Tweek’s absence in the conversation and saw his whistling at his bird, “Haha guys, look! Tweek’s talking to his pet bird.”

Craig glanced over to see Tweek laying on his stomach on his bed, his legs in the air moving back and forth. His face with a joyful expression on it which only grew as Kiwi responded.

Craig didn’t even hear Token’s comment, too entranced in the way Tweek’s smile would grow with every sound his pet bird made. Or the way the light hit his hair just right that it made it look that much softer. Craig was too concentrated on Tweek’s face that he almost didn’t hear Clyde’s asking him if he was okay.

Craig broke out of his spell, hiding his face by pulling his hat down. Craig started muttering to himself about his actions, while Token pointed out what he was doing.

Clyde took notice of Token’s comment and became overjoy at the deeper meaning behind Craig’s actions, “Craig is so gay!” he whispered loudly, not wanting Tweek’s to take notice of Craig’s embarrassment.

“Shut the fuck up Clyde,” he snapped back, but all Token and Clyde did was laugh at their friend’s misfortune.

“Can we just get back to the fucking game?” asked Craig angrily, he was trying to not only get the conversation under control but also his blushing, “Please,” he begged.

His friends took notice of the please, realizing how embarrassed Craig must be. They smiled coyly to each other, realizing what Craig’s reaction meant.

“Yeah sure,” said Token in response. But he couldn’t help look at Craig who looked like he was trying really hard to not notice Tweek who was still happily conversing with Kiwi.

During the rest of the visit, Craig was tense. He was trying to not focus on Tweek and how his lips would pucker up when he whistled. Or how his smile caused his eyes to crinkle around the edges. Or his soft laughter, which was followed with Tweek leaning into Craig space as he bragged about Kiwi. Craig tried to control his blushing face and he thought he was going really well since Tweek didn’t know about how he made his heart beat at little faster than usual. Of course, Craig forgot how observant Token and Clyde where.

 

 

~~~

After the gang left Tweek’s house, Craig got ambushed by Token and Clyde who each grabbed both of their arms and hauled him over to the park.

“What the fuck are you guys doing,” said Craig, not bothering to pull his arms out from their grasp.

Token And Clyde dropped Craig on the swing set and stood in front of him with their arms crossed in front of his chest, “We need to talk about the gay thoughts you are having over Tweek,” said Clyde with a twinkle in his eyes.

Token interrupted Clyde before he started his monolog, “What Clyde meant to say is that we want to know why you been blushing like a teenage girl every time you look  at Tweek,”

“I don’t blush,”

“Dude,” began Token, “You were bright red and you weren’t even hearing me and Clyde trying to ask you if you were okay. You looked entranced,”

Craig stared at the ground, trying to ignore the truth of the matter, “It's nothing,”

Token and Clyde looked at Craig and then at each other, sighing in exasperation at how stubborn Craig was acting. Token then sat next to Craig on another swing set, “Look, Craig, I don’t understand why you won’t admit it. You should know that we don’t care if you are gay. If you're gay for Tweek, that's fine. Just admit it,”

Craig looked at Token and then let out an exasperated sigh, “Is it obvious?”

Token laughed out loud, “Dude, you look at Tweek like you look at Red Racer and hamsters.”

Craig pulled down his chullo hat and groaned. Clyde laughed at loud and began to talk about how this was great and that the Asian girls were right.

“No,” interrupted Craig, “I don’t want this to be because of the Asian girls. If anything happens it’ll be because Tweek is sure about it. I don’t want this to be about what other people want,”

“Man, you are crushing hard,” said Token, “It's like Stan and Wendy all over again,”

“Shut up man,” said Craig, “If anything Tweek and I is better because we both hang out and understand each other,”

“Yeah,” interjected Clyde, “Plus I don’t see you guys fight that often and when you do, you guys make up pretty quickly. You guys are so chill with each other. You guys are such a power couple, even if your not dating,”

Craig just rolled his eyes and Clyde began to fangirl over Tweek and Craig superiority over the other couples of South Park. Token looked at Craig and placed a hand on his shoulder, “If it means anything to you, I think Tweek feels the same way,”

Craig stared at Token and smiled to himself. He would be so happy if Tweek accepted his feelings, which he was sure would happen. But he wanted it to come from Tweek. He didn’t want to give him any added pressure. Plus Craig could be patient when it came to Tweek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God guys! 0ver 1000 hits! I am so happy! This is all because of you guys and I appreciate you guys taking such an interest in this fanfiction. All of the comments are so lovely I love it. Thanks again and as always comment and all that jazz. See you next Wednesday.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The approaching the end of their eighth-grade year. This is one of those dances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It gets Ummm *cough* explicit *cough*. Nothing between the two boys, just you know puberty. If you don't want to read skip the part where Craig is at home.

To say Tweek was nervous was an understatement. He was petrified was more like it. He stood in front of the mirror fussing over his tie which didn’t want to be aligned correctly. It kept moving over to the side and it was driving Tweek insane. His mom was yelling at him asking if he was ready yet, but he would reply that he wasn’t.

But really, would Tweek ever be ready. He was going to the eighth-grade dance with Craig. Before going with Craig wouldn’t be a big deal, but Tweek didn’t want to look sloppy or dirty when he went out with Craig. He wanted to look presentable, like someone Craig could be proud of. Tweek didn’t understand where this urge came from.

It was as if it was under the surface and it barely wanted to come up for a breath of air. Tweek could still remember when Craig asked him to the dance and how he just started to blush as he told Craig yes. Thinking back on it now, Tweek was so embarrassed that he began playing with his hair.

Why was he so flustered? He knew Craig was just asking him out because they needed to be seen in public. It wasn’t anything else, or so Tweek told himself.

Tweek looked in the mirror a little bit more and just stopped fussing with his tie. That was as good as it was going to get, there was no point in prolonging the inevitable.

He went downstairs and told his mom he was ready. His mother cooed over him, fussing with his hair and fixing up his shirt and tie. Somehow she was able to make his tie straight, which was something Tweek couldn’t figure out how she did it. She then told him to get in the car and she drove him to school where he was going to met up Craig.

After she dropped him off and told him to be safe, Tweek waited in front of the school, hands a little bit twitchy for some reason. However, Tweek didn’t have to wait long since Craig’s mom’s car pulled up and Craig walked out with his hands in his pocket.

For some reason, the mere sight of Craig made Tweek’s heartbeat elevate. He looked away, not trusting himself to not blush even more.

“Hey,” said Craig as he walked up to Tweek.

“Hi,” responded Tweek, peeking up to look at Craig.

His hair was combed over to one side, not like it usually looked when he took his hat off. He was also wearing a dress shirt and a tie, but he seemed to fill in the shirt more that Tweek did. For some reason, seeing Craig look all dressed up for the dance made Tweek’s heart do a little flip.

Unknown to Tweek, Craig was having a similar dilemma. He looked at Tweek, his hair tied to one side and his olive tie made his eyes even more vibrant. His flushed cheeks due to the cold made Craig want to squish them. Of course, he wouldn’t do something like that ever. He didn’t want Tweek to think he was weird.

“We should head inside,” suggested Craig.

Tweek nodded his head in agreement. As he was walking toward the multi purpose room he felt something touch his hand. He looked down and saw it was Craig, his hand wrapped tightly around his.

However, this seemed different from all the other times they held hands. Craig’s fingers were intertwined with his own hand. Craig wasn’t even making eye contact with him, but Tweek could see the redness on his ears. This caused Tweek to responded the same way, his ears brightening up as well. He just held Craig’s hand that much harder. Maybe, maybe this was something more. Maybe this was a date.

Before Tweek could think more about that scenario, he was distracted by the loud music that suddenly surrounded him. He looked up and was meet with a dark room, with a bunch of teenagers dancing and talking with each other. Tweek looked around the room and saw Token with Nichole in the middle of the dance floor dancing and laughing with each other. Clyde was with Bebe and her friends, trying to convince one of the girls to dance with him. Sadly, all the girls were already promised or just weren’t interested in dancing with him.

Craig then pulled Tweek toward the dance floor. They were around the edge and Craig grabbed Tweek’s hands and put them on his shoulders, his own hands being placed around Tweek’s waist.

“What are we doing?” questioned Tweek as he began to follow Craig’s lead.

“We’re dancing,”

“Why are you leading?” asked Tweek.

“Well I am the taller one in this relationship,” Tweek pinched Craig’s shoulder, causing Craig to cuz out loud.

“That doesn't mean you automatically get to lead,” responded Tweek, “What if I want to lead you asshole,”

“Well,” said Craig, “You can lead the next one,”

Tweek said fine reluctantly. He knew that Craig would lead this dance no matter what Tweek said. It seemed that Craig realized that Tweek admitted defeat and chuckled out loud, earning him a punch on the shoulder. However, all of this was just playful banter.

The two continued to laugh, and every time one of them would mess up, the other would mock them. It was nice and enjoyable. However, both boys grew tired of dancing and decided to go over to the refreshment table.

Craig handed Tweek a plastic cup filled with fruit punch, which he readily drank. Craig himself did the same, drinking a cup of fruit punch.

Tweek pulled on Craig’s sleeve, “Do you want to go outside?”

Craig just shrugged his shoulders, which was the equivalent of a yes.

They walked outside of the room and decided to head to the school’s field where they sat underneath a tree.

“Why did you want to go outside?” asked Craig.

Tweek stared at the sky a little bit more before he answered Craig. Once he shifted his attention away from the sky, he reached out for Craig’s hand, which Craig readily gave, “It was getting too loud in there. Too stuffy. Needed to get some fresh air."

Craig nodded his head in understanding. He understood how Tweek would get when he was in a room or situation that was too much for him. He would get anxious and start to twitch uncontrollably, something which Tweek didn’t appreciate happening to him. The last time that happened, it was a field trip for school. They were at an amusement park, but they were so many people around them, squishing Tweek and Craig together. They could barely move.

This caused Tweek to have a panic attack. His chest started to expand quicker and his breathing became more of a wheeze. Craig took notice of this change and quickly lead Tweek to an isolated area, not caring about the people he elbowed and pushed out of the way.

He made Tweek sit down and made Tweek breath in and out until his breath came back to normal. The rest of the day was filled with Craig and Tweek hanging out and avoiding any big crowds.

Tweek apologized to Craig, sorry that he wasted Craig’s time. But Craig just waved him off and said that he really didn’t care about the roller coasters. He was more worried about Tweek’s well-being.

So when Tweek said he needed to get outside, Craig didn’t begrudge him. He understood him.

The two boys just sat next to each other, enjoying the night sky that was littered with sparkling stars that shone down upon them.

Craig all of a sudden felt something heavy lay on his shoulder. When he looked down he saw it was Tweek whose head was on his shoulder. Craig didn’t really mind until Tweek started to lean in closer, snuggling into Craig's shoulder. Every Time Tweek would let out a breath, it would tickle Craig’s neck, causing him to swallow loudly.

Craig didn’t want to make this awkward. Tweek was sleepy and he was just resting on his shoulder. That didn’t mean that Craig should get hot and bothered by it. But it didn’t help that Tweek snuggled in closer, his hair tickling Craig’s cheeks, his body flushed against Craig’s.

Craig couldn't deal with it anymore and tried to shake Tweek out of his slumber.

“Tweek,” he muttered as he shook his shoulder.

Tweek blinked open his eyes, and he lifted up his head. However, instead of getting up of laying on the ground, he placed himself half on Craig and cradled his head underneath Craig’s chin. Craig stiffened but wrapped his arms around Tweek. Tweek as if sensing Craig’s arms, pulled on them and placed them on his lap, carerssing them.

Craig was blushing furiously. His throat was dry and it didn’t help that Tweek was gently touching his hands. Craig’s began to imagine all sorts of things that those hands could be doing which caused Craig’s heart to beat that much faster.

Craig soon felt how Tweek’s hands began to slow down and eventually they stopped moving altogether. Tweek’s breathing became more even and slow, indicating that he was fast asleep.

Craig let out a loud exhale. He was trying to control his body. The last thing he wanted was Tweek to get grossed out by Craig’s reactions.

Eventually, Tweek woke up due to his mom calling him on his phone that she was waiting for him outside. He dusted himself off and offered a hand to Craig. Tweek squeezed that hand and wished Craig good night with a tired and dazed look in his eyes before he walked back to the entrance of the school, leaving Craig flustered.

~~~

Craig was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. But after twenty minutes he realized this was a lost cause. His body felt like it was buzzing. It was too hot and felt like it was shaking from anticipation.

However, Craig knew the cause of this and he only had himself to blame. All he could think about was Tweek and how Tweek was so close to him. Craig usually didn’t react this way with Tweek snuggled against him. But in all four years that Craig been with Tweek, he never had Tweek on top of him, pressing down on his lap with his hands caressing Craig’s. That did something to Craig that he never expected.

Craig thought about how Tweek’s hands and how they felt over his own, touching them and stroking them. As Craig imagined Tweek’s touch, his hands lowered to his pajama bottom down his boxers. Craig wasn’t even thinking about his actions, he was just experiencing the emotions and living through his imagination.

He imagined all the times Tweek would hold his hand and imagined that feeling around his prick. As Craig remembered all the times Tweek would squeeze his hand, his own hand did the same thing to his cock.

Craig started to pant in anticipation and kept going with his imagination. He imagined Tweek as he nuzzled against his neck and imagined that sensation happening to him now.

What if Tweek was here with him now?

Craig began to pretend Tweek was lying next to him, like the sleepovers they did when they were still ten and not fourteen. He imagined Tweek reaching out and grabbing hold of his cock, fondling it before he started to rub the underside of it.

Craig whined in lust, trying to hold back from releasing. It was too soon, he still wanted to pretend that Tweek was here with him. He knew that Tweek would be able to tell that he was close and in response, Tweek would squeeze a little bit tighter and come a little bit closer. He was always secretly a jackass.

Their breathing would intermix with each other, and Tweek would pant at the mere sight of Craig unraveling. He would start to stroke Craig’s cock, moving up and down. Craig was becoming too entranced into his fantasy, moving his hips in the same movements as his stroking hand. But to him, it wasn’t his hand but Tweek. Tweek who was sweet and kind but wasn’t a pushover, someone who could stand on their own.

He imagined that Tweek would be hard underneath his underwear and Craig would help him out. He would reach out and slip him hand down Tweek’s short, and the moment his hand came close to Tweek’s prick, Tweek would whine out in ecstasy, the mere touch almost making him cum.

Craig kept stroking himself, muttering Tweek’s name as he started to go faster. He could imagine Tweek moving in tandem with him, both of them reaching their climax and they moved together, stroking each other pricks.

Then Craig would feel Tweek’s cock hardening and Tweek telling him he was about to cum. But Craig wouldn’t stop, he would keep going, stroking Tweek until he couldn’t handle it anymore and was just whining from the added sensation against his soft prick. The mere thought of imagining Tweek spent and lustful next to him made Craig cum in real life, his mouth wide open as he whined out loud.

After he released, Craig laid on his bed panting heavily, his chest rising up and down quickly, trying to help him catch his breath. Craig was getting uncomfortable since he came inside of his boxers and pajama bottoms.

He got up and changed into new clothing, making sure that he washed his own dirty clothes and not his mother. And as he laid down on his bed, he couldn’t help but feel guilty over what he just imagined. He knew that Tweek didn’t want that type of relationship with him, but Craig dared imagined Tweek doing such things. It made Craig feel dirty, but Craig couldn’t help but enjoy himself. He closed his eyes, done tormenting himself, and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter will be posted tomorrow lovelies. Enjoy this one though. Comments are welcome and as always love y'all.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a journey. An 84 page google document journey. 
> 
> If you guys can take a second and read this I would be much appreciated. I am just flabbergasted by all the positive response I got from this fanfiction. I told myself that I was never going to write fanfiction because I didn't see myself as a good writer, but also I couldn't find the time. It wasn't until I found the lack of Creek fanfiction that showed a developing relationship with on point characterization did I change my mind. 
> 
> Of course, I didn't change overnight. 
> 
> I would agonize over whether or not I would write fanfiction and if so how would I do it. All these thoughts swarmed my head I was sure that it wasn't going to turn out good. But I realized something as I wrote this fanfiction which was originally only going to be 10,000 words long. I realized that this fanfiction wasn't for me but for everyone else. You guys motivated me to keep writing and to go more into detail with my writing. It's because of all you guys that I have decided to write more fanfiction in the future. 
> 
> However, I won't post anything soon. I want to write a good chunk of it first before I even think about posting it online. 
> 
> Overall what I want to say is thank you guys for your support and thank you for even taking the time to read this fanfiction. Maybe one day someone will draw fanart of this or it would be one of the first fanfictions under the Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak tag when you filter it through hits. Who knows? But I am so proud of myself because this was fun and you guys, you guys showed me how much of an honor it is to put our work out there in the public face. It's because of you guys that we have artists, musicians, authors, etc. 
> 
> Love you all and enjoy.

It was their last year of middle school and Tweek was excited for High School. He and Craig went to see their new school, and the moment saw there was a boxing club, his eyes widened up and he broke out  in a cheer.

Craig just shook his head in amusement, happy that Tweek was excited for High School. Craig on the other hand wasn’t that joyful about leaving his middle school and being in a new environment. When he vocalized his worries to Tweek one day, Tweek talked to him about it.

“Why are you so nervous?” asked Tweek as he laid his head on Craig’s shoulder.

Craig was leaning back against the wall, holding onto Tweek’s hand as he thought about what to say, “I don’t know, it's just now I have to get serious.”

Tweek started chuckling, his movements tickling Craig’s chin, “Are you sad that you won't be able to play red racer every afternoon and actually have to do homework?”

Craig looked down on Tweek and he pulled on his cheek in retaliation.

“Hey!” screeched Tweek, as he tried to slap Craig’s hand away, “Don’t get mad because I am right,”

Craig just scuffed at his comment and laid his head on top of Tweek’s.

But that wasn’t the only reason Craig was so nervous. The real reason was that after two years of realizing his crush on Tweek, he hasn’t done anything about it. And over the years, he and Tweek have gotten closer and there were moments when Craig was about to let the words slip from his lips.

~~~

The first time it was Craig’s fourteenth birthday. Tweek brought him a collection of red racer clothing. Tweek was so happy and flustered about given his gift to Craig. Then Tweek gave a long speech about how important Craig was to him.

They were sitting in Craig’s room, listening to all the other adults talk downstairs. Tweek and Craig were laying side by side on the bed with the window open, causing the curtains to move periodically. Craig could still remember how loud his heartbeat was knowing that Tweek was next to him in his dark room only mere inches apart.

But before Craig could go down that thought process, Tweek coughed really loudly, trying to draw his attention.

“Cra-Craig?” whispered Tweek.

Hearing Tweek stuttered after such a long time brought Craig out of his little crisis, “Yeah?”

“I want to tell you something,”

Tweek laid on h is side, his head pillowed by his arm. Craig mimicked the same position, taking notice of how bright Tweek’s eyes were when they reflected the moonlight.

“I,” began Tweek before he moved his gaze downward, trying to regain his bearings, “I wanted to let you know that your really important to me.”

“Tweek,” began Craig, “You don’t have to say any-  
“I want to,” interrupted Tweek, “I-I want you to know how I important you-you are to me, it's just that you helped so much and-and,”

Tweek looked up, and when his hand reached out for Craig’s he cradled both of Craig’s hands in his own, “You are the most important person in my life, you helped me so much when I needed it, it's just that I-I don’t know if I could be as happy as I am right now if it weren’t for you,”

Tweek’s eyes were misty, but his smile was ever present. Craig’s eyes were wide open throughout Tweek’s entire speech, his heart aching over the words that Tweek said.

“I, I also think you are important for me,” said Craig as he leaned in closer, his breath inches away from Tweek, “I know at first, before we were friends we fought and I was mad that the Asian girls made us out to be boyfriends, but I am happy I got to know you because you,” Craig took a deep breath gaining up the courage to say what was on his mind, “I lo-I care about you Tweek,”

Tweek stared at Craig in shock, his mind processing the words that Craig said. His face flushed scarlet matching Craig’s own reaction.

“Umm,” said Tweek, “I- me too,”

“What,” said Craig, making sure that Tweek meant what he meant.

“I care about you too Craig,” said Tweek, his voice low and quiet, as if he embarrassed over the words he said.

After Tweek said that, both of the boys stared at each other in daze, the air was filled with embarrassment and something else, something that either boy didn’t know what to name it. They leaned in a little bit closer, their breaths intermixing as they started to breath a little bit faster. As they moved in closer, their hands started to tighten each other, as if trying to ground themselves in the reality of what they were doing.

“Craig are you in there?”

All of a sudden, the boys broke apart from each other, embarassment evident on their faces.

“Yeah mom?”

Craig’s mother opened up the door, “I wanted to tell you that we’re going to take out the cake, so come down,”

“Okay,” replied Craig.

His mother looked at the two boys, noticing that they were pretty tense, but not quite sure what it was, however, she has a good guess what almost happen given the blushing face of his son. She decided that it wasn’t anything bad and closed the door.

Once Craig’s mother was gone, both boys were aware of the tension in the air. They didn’t really say anything, creating a room of silence as they tried to get their breathing and blushing under control.

“We should go downstairs,” said Craig finally, trying to break the sulleness of the room.

Tweek jumped from the sudden noise, but quickly controlled himself, “Ye-yeah your right,”

Craig just nodded his head and headed downstairs with Tweek trailing behind him. The rest of the day, Craig couldn’t help think about how close he was to kissing Tweek, and wondered if Tweek was thinking about the same thing.

~~~

The second time they almost kissed was after a party.

Tweek wasn’t really comfortable right now. He and Craig were right now hanging out at Token’s house, which was filled with other kids from their middle school and high school. Token apparently thought that it would be good that he would throw a party and try to become popular with the upperclassmen by inviting them to his party.

It was safe to say that this was a bad idea.

The upperclassmen brought beer to Token’s house, and there was a bunch of drunk teenagers stumbling all over the house.

When Craig and Tweek arrived, they were offered a drink in a red plastic up, but Craig quickly grabbed them and dumped them down the sink, not wanting Tweek to get another addiction.

Right now they were sitting in the corner of a room on an armchair. However a drunk high schooler came stumbling into the living room and slide right next to Tweek.

Tweek tried to scoot himself away from the high schooler.

“H-he-hey, you’re not drunk at all,” said the boy as he pointed a finger in front of Tweek’s face, “Y-you should totally get drunk, trust me,”

“Umm no thank you,” replied Tweek.

However, the high schooler was adamant and continued to try to persuade Tweek to take a sip from his cup. Craig came to his rescue and sat between the drunk boy and Tweek. He wrapped his arm around Tweek’s shoulder and glared at the drunk boy.

“Are you trying to make my boyfriend drunk?”

“Oh he’s your boyfriend,” gestured the drunk highschooler, “Wait you wouldn’t we Tweek and Craig would you,”

“What about it,” replied Craig stiffly.

“Have you guys fucked,” he said bluntly.

Tweek squeaked at the mere thought of doing at such a thing and Craig just flipped the high schooler off. The drunk boy barked off in laughter at both of the boy’s responses, “I’ll take that as a no then,”

Craig continued glaring at the older boy and he tightened his arms around Tweek, causing Tweek to be flushed against his side. Tweek didn’t want to be quashed against Craig’s side, so he started going on top of Craig’s lap.

“I’ll leave you two love birds to your own devices then,” said the high schooler who stumbled as he walked away.

Craig stared at the boy’s back as he walked, making sure that he was actually leaving the living room. Then he felt somebody poke his chest. He looked down a little bit down and saw Tweek looking back up at him, his face flushed, “Umm Craig, co-could you let go of me please?”

Craig loosen his hold on Tweek’s shoulder, but he kept his arm around his shoulder, and kept Tweek by his side. Tweek felt a little bit tense being pressed up against Craig, but at least he wasn’t on his lap.

The rest of the party was with Craig and Tweek just sitting next to each other and talking. Tweek started to relax being next to Craig and started to talk animatedly, his hands moving around. Craig smiled down at him and just wrapped his arm around his waist instead of his shoulder so that Tweek could move.

Tweek only stopped momentarily but composed himself. He leaned against Craig’s side and was further soothed by Craig’s hand kneading his sides. Craig’s heart fluttered at the sight of Tweek so comfortable next to him, he was staring at his mouth, and even though he knew he was being a shit friend by not paying attention to what he was saying, he couldn't stop himself from being entranced by the pink hue those lips had.

Craig imagined how it would feel to have Tweek’s lips against his own. Would they be soft, or would they be a little bit dry? If they kissed for a while would his lips get wetter or softer.

If Tweek noticed how distracted he was, he didn’t say anything or thought it was Craig’s usual self of not caring about his surroundings. Tweek didn’t really care about Craig not paying attention, as long as Craig was near him he would be okay.

Soon it started to get late and Tweek wanted to leave. Craig didn’t really care about the party to begin with, so he decided to take Tweek home.

It was dark and cold outside as Craig and Tweek are walking home. Tweek is shivering against the cold, wrapping his arm around himself. Craig taking notice of Tweek’s predicament took off his chullo hat and put it on Tweek’s head.

Tweek was surprised by the unexpected warmth that covered his head, and his hair that was now covering his eyes, “Ahhh! Craig?”

“Your cold,” replied Craig nonchalantly, putting his hands back into his pockets, “It’s the only thing I could think of,”

Tweek looked at Craig as they kept walking and gave a small smile that only he knew of. With his free hand he played with the ends of the hat, scutting a little bit closer to Craig’s side. He told himself it was only to stay warmer, but he knew deep down that that wasn’t true. Tweek knew that he just wanted to be a little bit closer to Craig.

So when they arrived at Tweek’s house and they stopped at the front of his door, Tweek didn’t let go of his hand. In fact, he only held on tighter to Craig.

Craig looked at Tweek with an eyebrow raised, asking if there was anything Tweek wanted to tell him. But all he saw was Tweek with his downcast face, biting his lower lips. He then looked back up at Craig through his eyelashes, his mouth pink from biting them, and Craig couldn't help but think about the party and how he wanted to kiss Tweek.

Craig took one step closer, both of the boys faces leveled with each other. Craig grabbed Tweek’s other hand and held both of their clasped hands in front of them, placing them parallel with their chests.

“Craig,” whispered Tweek, his eyes even brighter against the dark blue of Craig’s hat. That sight alone made Craig’s mouth go dry, the imagine to beautiful to ignore.

“Tweek, I,” began Craig, but was interrupted when he felt Tweek’s breath against his lips. Tweek was looking at him with wide eyes, and Craig couldn’t help but look at Tweek’s mouth.

Tweek took notice of where Craig’s gaze went and he too looked at Craig’s mouth. Both of them realized what the other was looking at, and came to the conclusion that they other wanted to kiss.

It was as if they were simultaneously having this thought process because they both flushed, but their eyes never left each other.

Tweek angled his head a little and leaned into Craig’s space. Craig closed his eyes, matching what Tweek was doing. Un be knownst to them they were just a few centimeters apart when the front door open.

“Tweek how did your party go,” said Tweek’s mom, her voice trailing off when she realized the scene she interrupted.

The moment they heard the door open, both boys moved away from each other, their hands sweating from embarrassment and nervousness of being caught.

Again.

“Oh, ah, do you want to come inside Craig?” asked Tweek’s mom tentatively, trying to salvage the previous mood.

“No,” replied Craig stiffly.

Tweek’s mom wanted to say something else, but realized that the damage was done, she shouldn’t make it any worse. She nodded her head in reply and closed the door, leaving the boys behind.

Craig and Tweek stood their in silence, each trying to calm the beasts of their racing hearts.

“I am going to head back home,” said Craig, “You can give me back the hat tomorrow,”

“Ye-yeah,” muttered Tweek.

As Craig turned around and walked down the steps, Tweek reached out for Craig’s sleeve. He pulled back Craig and turned his head so he could kiss Craig’s cheek.

“Umm, good night,” said Tweek quickly as he slipped through the door and quickly closed the door behind him.

Tweek’s heart was rapidly beating in his chest. He yelled at his mom good night and ran up the stairs, sliding down against the door of his room, once he was inside. He kissed Craig on the cheek before, shit he remembered he did it when they were just ten years old. But this was different from before. Tweek could still remembered the scene in front of his house and how close he was to kissing Craig. Tweek didn’t know what came over him and decided to kiss Craig on the cheek. He just didn’t want it to be awkward between him and Craig again like that one time at Craig’s birthday party. He wanted to show Craig how he was thinking the same thing as him.

He just hoped that Tweek was right, and Craig was going to kiss him.

~~~

After those two fail attempts, Craig was becoming for self-conscience of the times Tweek and him would be by themselves.

So here was Craig, laying on his bed as Token and Clyde did homework. Craig was thinking about all of this just because Tweek wasn’t here with all them, given that he was rehearsing for the last act of the year.

Even though Craig never talked during their homework sessions, Token could tell that something else was wrong, because Craig would occasionally groan and sigh out loud (even though it wasn’t particularly loud).

“Okay that’s enough,” said Token as he placed his pencil down on the desk. He turned around and looked at Craig’s direction, “What’s wrong,”

“Nothing’s wrong,” said Craig as he glared at Token.

“No, I know something’s wrong because you look like a lovestruck idiot,” replied Token.

Clyde, who was still doing his pre-algebra homework, stopped and was now listening to the conversation, “Yeah, you’ve been acting like your thinking really hard,”

Craig just flipped both of them off, and rolled on his side, grabbing his chullo hat to cover the side of his face.

“Come on man,” said Clyde, “We are just trying to help you out,”

“It's about Tweek isn’t it,” asked Token.

Craig just mumbled something unintelligent and flipped them off again.

“Dude,” began Clyde, “Just tell him already, I and Token can assure you that he feels the same, why are you so worried,”

Craig just mumbled something, confusing Token and Clyde.

“What did you say,” asked Token.

Craig turned over and sat up, putting his chullo hat on, “I said that I know Tweek feels the same way,”

Token and Clyde looked at Craig in confusion, Clyde more in anticipation really, “How did you figure it out,”

Craig gaze became unfocused, as if he was thinking about something, remembering something, “We almost kissed,”

Clyde screamed out loud and almost fell on the floor, “What! How-how did that happen, what, when, where. Oh my God,”

“Clyde calm down,” replied Token who quickly shifted his attention back to Craig who still had his deadpan expression on, “So when did this happen,”

“The first one happened during my birthday party and the last time was at your house party,”

This prompted Clyde, who just barely got ahold of himself, to scream out even more, “Oh my God! Craig, what are you waiting for!”

Craig looked down at his lap, thinking about what Clyde said. Why hadn’t he tried telling Tweek how he was feeling. Craig knew that Tweek wanted to kiss him, especially after Tweek gave him a peck on the cheek. Craig knew that the feelings were there for a while now, but he didn’t trust himself to tell Tweek. He didn’t want to tell Tweek in fear that he would reject him. But really, there wasn’t anything bad that could happen, it was mostly fear that prevented Craig.

“Are you scared Craig,” asked Token.

Before Craig could even flip him off, Token interrupted, “I know you’re going to say no, but Craig really, just tell him, nothing bad is going to happen. Tweek cares too much about you to hurt your feelings, and I think you're the same way for him.”

Craig didn’t say anything, contemplating what Token just said.

~~~

Tweek was holding onto his pillow, his knees brought up toward his chest and he buried his face into his pillow. Lately he’s been feeling this way, like this chest was too heavy at times and other times like it was tight. At first he thought he was coming down with something, but after telling his mother about it all she did was smile at him.

“There is nothing wrong with you Tweek,” she said as she was cutting the vegetables.

“Ar-are you sure?” he prompted.

“Yes I am sure dear, if anything it's a good thing you’re feeling this,”

After that Tweek never talked to his mother about this feeling, he was pretty sure his mother has gone alittle crazy with all the coffee fumes in the air. So he tried talking to his friends, and all of them, _all of them_ told him it was okay for him to be feeling like that.

To put it lightly Tweek was tired of this shit. He wanted to just find some solace from this never aching pain. And if wasn’t like it hurt like a wound or a bruise, but it throbbed inside of him causing him to become mortified.

The only way the pain went away was when he was with Craig or thinking about him. But one night when Tweek was thinking about Craig he went beyond just simple thought. He envisioned Craig touching Tweek down there. He imagined Craig’s hand touching were Tweek’s hand was, and imagined him talking to Tweek. At one point Tweek was painting just from the thought of Craig doing such things to him. Tweek then reached down toward his crotch and grabbed his cock and started to touch it.

The first touch was electrifying, making Tweek give out a loud gasp at the feelings it invoked in him. Tweek braced himself against the shower walls and keep touching himself, the whole time imagining Craig’s face. Tweek brought out the memory of Craig shirtless whenever they went to the pool, and he used that to fuel his imagination. Tweek could still remember how he wasn’t sure what made him blush more, the hot shower or the thoughts he was thinking.

It was the first time that Tweek did something like that, and he didn’t even dare tell his parents. It was good to have supportive parents about his fake relationship with Craig, but he didn’t want his parents to give him the talk again. It wasn’t that Tweek was ashamed of what he did but more of why he even did it. The mere image of Craig made him hot and pent up with anxiety. But unlike the anxiety that plagued him throughout this childhood this one was more like it was underneath his skin and the only way to get rid of it was to do jack off.

So Tweek buried his head more into his pillow and muffled out his cries as he touched himself. He tried with all his might to not imagine Craig and how they danced during their eighth grade dance. Or how they worked together during Theater and Craig would take off his hat and slick back his hair to cool down. Or think about how Tweek all but crawled on top of Craig and Craig let him. It was too much for him to ignore, even as Tweek squeezed his eyes shut as if closing his eyes would make the images stop. But if anything it made it worse.

He just wished that he could stop these feelings.

~~~

As eighth grade was nearing their last days Craig could tell something was different between Tweek and him. They still hung out all day together since they had similar afterschool activities and classes. But it was as if Tweek was walling himself away from Craig.

And Craig wasn’t the only one who was noticing. Almost every one of their class could tell. Kenny even went to ask Tweek if he was okay, which prompted a quick reply of yes, he was okay. But his hands twitched throughout those last days, something which hasn’t happened for at least two years.

Even though Craig would ask Tweek in private what was wrong so he wouldn’t feel pressured, it only made it worse. He would give a quick excuse for his behavior and quickly leave Craig behind.

Soon their walks home became solitary. Tweek would go on ahead, even skipping out on Theater, which he never did. Craig of course stayed behind because he knew how much Tweek loved Theater. At first Craig was confused on why the teacher didn’t get on Tweek’s case. It wasn’t until later that Bebe told him that Tweek has been coming in the morning to make up for his absences in the afternoon.

“Are you guys okay,” asked Stan one day.

“Why do you care?”, Craig has been in a bad mood lately since he just didn’t understand why Tweek was being so evasive lately.

“Hey don’t be such a bitch,” Stan then stood awkwardly as if deciding to leave or not, he ultimately decided to sit down next to Craig given how Tweek wasn’t sitting with the group during lunch.

“Look,” he said, “I don’t know what’s happening between you and Tweek, but you have to fix it,”

“Those it looks like I know? I have been trying to talk to Tweek these past two weeks but he keeps evading me. I am not even sure what I did wrong.”

“Well, you better figure something out because everyone’s getting anxious and-”

“Do you think I care about anyone else’s feelings?” questioned Craig, his normal neutral tone shifting toward that of annoyance, “I only care about why Tweek is mad. I don’t care if any of those fucking fangirls start crying over this.”

“Hey!” shouted Stan, “One of those _fucking fangirls_ is my girlfriend!”

“I don’t care! I don’t care what any of you guys think, this is between me and Tweek and you guys aren’t helping the situation, so but out of this!”

After his little exclamation Craig noticed that everyone was staring at him, and one person in particular was Tweek who just barely entered the lunchroom with a tray filled with his food.

“Tweek?”

Before Craig could even reach him Tweek turned around and slammed the door shut, filling the silent room with a loud band.

Craig cursed to himself. The one day Tweek was going to eat lunch with them and he was getting any over nosy people.

Not wanting to deal with any more of this shit, Craig gathered up his tray and left the lunchroom to find Tweek, but it was too late given how Tweek locked himself in a classroom away from any questioning glances.

~~~

To say Tweek was ashamed was an understatement. He felt sheepish over his behavior with Craig lately.

At first, he only wanted to distance himself a little. He stopped holding Craig’s hand, and even though he saw the hurt look that crossed Craig’s face every time he didn’t meet him halfway, Tweek continued with his mission. To try to bury these feelings.

But didn’t realize that the more he separated from Craig, the more his heart yearned for him. At times it felt like his limbs moved on their own accord and they would reach us toward Craig. Of course, Tweek would realize what was happening and bring them back toward his sides, but the damage was done.

So Tweek started to stop walking with Craig. He stopped hanging out with him after school and on the weekends. Ultimately Tweek cut off all ties from Craig and in proxy with his friends.

Tweek reassured himself that he was okay. He reasoned with himself that he wasn’t experiencing anxiety attacks and it was just the jitters of the last year middle school. But Tweek wasn’t a fool and he was a terrible liar. He felt to separated from everyone else and he knew he only had himself to blame. Of course, this didn’t change his conviction, but that didn’t mean that Tweek wouldn’t degrade himself in his room.

It has become a daily ritual for Tweek to arrive home and lay on his bed. At times he would let Kiwi out of the cage and let them perch on his bed. He would sing to Kiwi and as Kiwi responded in kind Tweek would be reminded that there was no one else in his room to share this sound with. He started to curl himself up into a ball and quietly sob into his comforter.

Kiwi of course didn’t know the reasons behind his owner’s internal conflict, but they understood the change in their owner’s attitude and how their happy demeanor shifted toward that of self-hatred and melancholy.

Kiwi would inch toward Tweek and chirp as if asking him if he was okay.

Tweek could lift up his head which was buried in one of his pillows. His eyes were bloodshot and his face contained the remains of tear tracks. Noticing his bird’s worry Tweek barked out a watery laugh. He just couldn’t help but make everyone he cared about him feel sad and worried about him.

Soon Tweek’s phone rang, it’s ringtone breaking the sad tension in the air. Tweek lifted himself off from the bed and went to pick up his phone, sniffling to make sure it didn’t sound like he was crying.

“He-hello,” replied Tweek, his voice groggy and rasp from all the sobbing he did.

“Tweek look outside your window,”

Hearing Craig’s voice shook Tweek out of his daze and he mentally chastised himself for not checking his caller id before picking up, “Wha-what do you mean Craig?”

However Tweek soon realized what Craig was saying. Outside his window was Craig standing in the yard, a phone perched against his ear, his chest rising up and down as if he ran over here.

Tweek quickly open his bedroom door and yelled down at Craig, “Wh-what are you doing here Craig?!”

Tweek screamed this also into the phone which Craig still had against his head. Craig flinched at the sudden screaming that assaulted his eardrums, but took it all in stride. He ended the call and yelled at Tweek his response, “We need to talk,”

Tweek swallowed, already telling where this conversation was going, “There’s nothing to, I mean there’s nothing wrong to talk a-,”

“Tweek please don’t lie to me,” Craig’s expression was that of pleading, and even though he was a good twenty-five feet below him Tweek could tell that Craig was conflicted and that was the last thing Tweek wanted to see.

Tweek nodded his head and put Kiwi back in their cage as he headed outside. When he got outside Craig started to walk toward the park and Tweek diligently followed him. He made sure to put his arms around him just in case Craig tried to hold his hand.

Unbeknownst to Tweek, Craig could tell what Tweek was doing and he just lowered his head in anger, but not at Tweek but at himself. He wanted to understand why Tweek was acting like they weren’t best friends like they haven’t held each other or they haven’t shared their first kiss (albeit it was on the cheek).

When they got to the park Craig didn’t care anymore and he grabbed Tweek’s arm pulling toward a little cluster of trees. The last thing he wanted was for someone to stumble on their conversation. Tweek squeaked when Craig’s hand wrapped around his arm but he didn't really put up much of a fight.

Once they got there Craig came to a stop and turned around, his usual bitch face gone and now it was one filled with confusion, “Okay talk,”

Tweek’s body tensed up which caused Craig to almost drop the tough guy attitude and pull Tweek in a hug, “There isn’t, I mean, ugh, Craig it's okay,” his voice was becoming shaky and his hands were fidgeting by his sides, “It’s, I mean nothing is wrong with me,”

“Tweek,” said Craig as he approached him, “I-why aren’t you telling me the truth. We known each other for years now do you think you can lie to me,”

As Craig placed his hand on Tweek’s shoulder, Tweek flinched away and curled up into himself. Craig quickly retreated his hand and he himself felt like hiding away. Did he really cause Tweek so much anguish that he couldn’t really handle his touch. Craig didn’t feel like he did anything in particular to cause Tweek to suddenly despise him but sometimes Crais was oblivious to his surroundings. The last thing Craig wanted to do was add more to Tweek’s struggles.

“If I am the one causing this Tweek then I could stop just-what did I do wrong Tweek? Tell me so I can change,” Craig almost placed his hands on Tweek’s shoulder, but instead let them hand by his sides, “I don’t want to see you like this, just tell me what I did wrong,”

Craig hanged his head down in guilt, disgusted that he was the reason behind Tweek’s behavior.

All of a sudden Craig heard sniffling and when he looked up all he saw was Tweek’s face scrunched back trying to hold back tears.

“It’s not your fault Craig,” mumbled Tweek, “It’s all my fault,”

“Then tell me what’s wrong Tweek. I can help you, just let me help you,”

“No!” screamed Tweek as he tried to put distance from Craig and him but at the same time all he wanted was for someone to hold him and comfort him, “I don’t want to tell you-I don’t want you to hate you,”

“What the fuck man how can you even think that! I’ll never hate you, you’re my best friend!”

“But you will!” pleaded Tweek as he uncurled himself and was now facing Craig, as if willing him to understand his situation, “If you find out how I feel for you, you’ll think I am gross and then leave me. I just need time for myself to get rid of these feelings,”

“What are these feelings Tweek,” asked Craig as he stepped closer to Tweek, “What are these feelings?”

Craig slowly started to advance toward Tweek and as he noticed that Tweek wasn’t moving he asked again, “What these feelings?” he asked in a much softer tone, his face some inches away from Tweek.

“Tweek, what are you feeling?”

“I-I don’t know okay?” cried Tweek with tears in his eyes, “Do you think I’ll be this fucked up if I knew what these feelings for? I don’t know what they are but I know they make me feel different around you, make me think _things_ about you, and if you found out you’ll think I am a fucker or a freak,”

“Tweek,” whispered Craig his hands now gently touching Tweek’s face, “You can tell me anything Tweek,”

Tweek started to shake his head in response to Craig’s request and to himself. He didn’t want to tell Craig, he was scared. Scared that he was going to lose one of the most important people in his life, someone who helped him during his mental struggles and someone who liked him for him.

“Please Tweek,” beseeched Craig as he leaned down a little so their foreheads were touching, “Please,”

“I,” began Tweek, trying to talk through his constricted throat, “My heart hurts,”

“What?” responded Craig, his voiced laced with worry, “Tweek you need to get that checked out it may-”

“It’s-it's not a bad feeling. It makes me warm and when you’re not near me it aches and it only goes away when you're next to me or when we’re talking on the phone or video chatting,”

Craig’s face was getting red from the realization of Tweek’s words but he didn’t dare interrupt for fear that this wasn’t what he hoped it was, “Ye-yeah? What else,”

“Um, you see, I want to touch you sometimes,” Tweek’s face now had a rosy tint to it as he continued to talk, “I want to hold your hand or I want you to hold me like that one time at the dance,”

Tweek stopped talked and looked up at Craig almost giving him a heart attack. Tweek had a scarlet hue on his cheeks which were framed by Craig’s hands. Craig couldn’t handle the sight and his desire to do _something_ was quickly going to overpower his self-restraint.

“But most importantly I want to kiss you,” mumbled Tweek.

Silenced stretched over creating a curtain of tension.

“I knew this would happen,” said Tweek, “I knew it’ll get weird and you’ll think I am some faggot. This is why I didn’t want to tell you, Craig, because of this,”

Tweek lifted his hands and placed them over Craig’s trying to pry them off his face. However before Tweek even had a chance to react Craig tighten his hold on Tweek and leaned forward his lips pressed softly against Tweek.

It wasn’t perfect at all. Craig was half kissing Tweek’s lips, the other half the side of the mouth. Also both boys were stiff in their kiss. Craig’s hold on Tweek’s face was a little bit tight and there noses were smooched together making the kiss uncomfortable. However those few seconds were one of the best seconds either of them have ever experienced. It was as if a weight was lifted from their chest which allowed all of these feelings to flow out of their beating hearts. Tweek barely had a chance to reciprocate as Craig was already pulling away, his face flushed scarlet.

Both boys were too embarrassed to utter a word, however they understood the severity of such an action. Craig as usual was the first person to speak.

“I been feeling the same way Tweek for a long time, and I know it's because I have a crush on you,” Craig stopped and lowered his hands so that they were now holding Tweek’s, “Would you like to be my boyfriend for real this time?”

Tweek stared at Craig, his mouth forming a small o. He quickly smiled up at Craig and tighten his hold, “Yeah, yeah I’ll love that Craig,”

Both boys smiled and started to laughing riding of the high of all of these emotions. They learned their foreheads together and shared the same air that surrounded them too happy to care about the setting sun, too happy to care about anyone.

As their laughter started to dwindle down they couldn’t help but look at each other’s face and stare at the other’s lips. Craig let go of one of Tweek’s hands and placed it gently against Tweek’s cheek. Tweek leaned into the hand, angling his head as he looked up at him, making Craig swallow, his adam's apple moving in response.

Craig leaned forward and kissed Tweek again angling Tweek’s head so that they didn’t bump their noses again. Tweek closed his eyes and kissed back, placing his now lonely hand up against Craig’s chest, feeling the rapid beating of Craig’s heart.

The kiss was short lived but the emotion of it, the warmth that filled their chests and cheeks lasted all evening. Lasted throughout the night as Tweek invited Craig to his house for a sleepover. Lasted toward morning as they announced their relationship to Token and Clyde. Lasted throughout their lives as they learned to love each other more and learned that they couldn’t ever be without each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bookmark it to show you love it or share it to other fans. As always love y'all.


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